Making a Difference

28 Looking Back and Looking Forward

LookingBack and LookingForward Serving the People IwasinterviewedonHereroRadioonedaybyayoungjournalistwhowas of the opinion that I wasn’t behaving according to my status as Deputy Prime Minister, and that my pre-occupation with the marginalized communities wasn’t what I should be doing. Actually, he accused both the Prime Minister Nahas Angula and me of bringing down the status of the Office of the Prime Minister. My terms of reference as Deputy Prime Minister didn’t include the marginalized communities but stated that I was ‘to assist the President and the Prime Minister in their duties’. They also stated that I was to serve the President and do what he assigned me to do. Well, I was assigned to take care of the marginalized communities: take care and assist the mountain people, find a place for them to come down, settle them, and make sure they didn’t go back up into the mountains again. This was what the President had asked me to do. Moreover, I am convinced that it is the responsibility of the highest office to take care of its poor, to take a lead in solving the problems of those people and not assign them to Ministers who have limited powers. Unknown to the journalist, and to many people, I acted on three occasions as President of the country, during the absence of both the President and the Prime Minister. On two occasions, this was for 24 hours and on the third occasion, for 48 hours. Twice, I had to deal with serious problems. One time when I was Acting President, there was a serious skirmish in the Aminius constituency in the east, and someone was shot dead in a dispute about who should be appointed as the Traditional Councillor of the constituency. I intervened quickly and used my negotiating skills; Making a Difference 252 otherwise more blood might have been shed. I solved that problem quickly and quietly. I want to express my appreciation to the chief who listened to my advice and returned to his place, because he was on the way to confront those who were appointing the councillor. The second crisis was when the ‘Struggle Children’ discovered that the President and Prime Minister were both away and I was the Acting President. These are children who were born in exile, some of whom are unemployed and angry because they feel the Government should be looking after them. They came with their suitcases to occupy the parliament building, but before they had made themselves comfortable, I had them removed. It was in my terms of reference that I should act on behalf of the President or Prime Minister in their absence and I did that effectively, without publicity. Whenever I had to act, I didn’t publicize my presidential status; I shouldered my responsibilities quietly with no fanfare. I don’t believe in ego and I don’t have one. I am a servant of the people. All my life I’ve looked after the poor and the needy. I will tell Riz Khan, the television journalist who likes to ask people he interviews how they want to be remembered, that I want to be remembered as ‘the servant of the people’. Deciding to Retire After I set up my three villages for the mountain people, I felt that the time had come to call it a day. I felt I had reached the pinnacle of my active contribution. I was physically and mentally tired and was wondering what more I could do. I had a farm that I had neglected for a long time and it was calling for my attention, so I decided to retire after twenty years of active service in government. I also needed to look after my back, which had suffered from bumps and shakes on those bad roads in Kaokoland. In 2008 I went to a conference in Bamako, Mali, and there I met a very young Deputy Prime Minister who was only 35 or so years old, younger than my daughter. I felt so old and wondered what to say to this young counterpart; what would we discuss? I then decided that the time of my cohort was over. I must give room. The young people should be empowered and we the elders should give way and allow them to take over. We need only to make sure that we give them all the 253 Looking Back and...