‘Expand the kitchen so everyone can eat’

Former deputy executive director in the finance ministry Ally Angula is running for the Presidency in the 2024 elections to fix the broken furniture and make every person feel comfortable, she says.

The chartered accountant, who also served as a board member on several private entities, made the announcement on her YouTube channel on Monday night.

Her announcement comes a little over a month after Affirmative Repositioning leader Job Amupanda announced his presidential ambitions on 21 March.

An independent candidate for president is required to deposit N$10 000 with the State Revenue Fund and demonstrate the support of at least 500 registered voters in each region, for a total of 7 000 voters

In her announcement, Angula said while growing up in the refugee camps in exile, she was given a promise called home, where all are equal and which many paid for in blood. She wants to pass these promises on to future generations as a certain outcome, not a conditional possibility.

Angula says her trajectory from a refugee camp to a pioneer in her chosen field has given her the power to fulfil these promises.

“Yet this trajectory places a heavy burden on me to fix the broken furniture so every person can be and feel comfortable, expand the kitchen so everyone can eat, rebuild, replace and repair, so we can all feel re-inspired to make new promises for the ones to come, but not until the old promises are fulfilled for our children. That is why I’m running for the president of the government of Namibia,” she said.
Angula envisions a Namibia where every person has a safe, secure roof over their head, is poverty-free and invests in the future.

Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) chief electoral and referenda officer Theo Mujoro said he is not not aware of Angula’s candidacy as it has not yet been registered.

He said anyone can declare their intentions to contest any election at any time.

“What matters to the ECN is the nomination process which normally takes place a few weeks before polling day,” he said.

Attempts to reach out to Angula for comment proved futile, as she did not respond to questions in her Twitter inbox, where she also announced her candidacy.

Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah welcomed Angula’s move, saying it will enlarge the pool of choices for voters next year, particularly because Angula is a woman.

However, Kamwanyah said he doubts that those who have so far announced themselves are doing it to liberate Namibia from Swapo or any other political party.

“I really doubt the calibre, depth and ideological stance of these people,” he said, particularly Angula, who has been absent from the public eye since leaving the finance ministry.

He also questioned what Angula would do to salvage the situation Namibia finds itself in.

“What is going to be different with Angula? She was a deputy executive director. What has she done that has tangibly improved the lives of Namibian people?”

He said Angula’s tagline ‘expand the kitchen table so everyone can eat’ speaks to the fundamental issues that need change.
Kamwanyah advised the presidential candidates not to lose the historical ground that made Namibians stand up and fight for the liberation of the country.

He expressed worry that the young candidates’ grounding is not rooted in the historical ideology of liberating the country and making sure that no one is left behind.