Nujoma Is Undermining The Education Of The Namibian Child

‘HAVE children and increase the workforce. We are about two million people in this country. This country is a large country with few people. I challenge you to contribute to building our nation and its people’.

The above-quoted message from The Namibian, Wednesday, June 3 2009, is attributed to former President Sam Nujoma when he was speaking to pupils at the A Shipena High School in Katutura, Windhoek, last Friday.As if his recent death threats against the ‘foreigners’ and Namibians as well as the scathing attacks on the ‘Pentecostal churches’ and the ‘God of the Israelites’ were not scandalous enough, Mr Nujoma has reportedly even gone wild with his counter-productive messages which is in direct contrast with the ongoing campaign for the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, STDs and the spread of the HIV virus among the youth, i.e. the schoolchildren.To make matters worse, those young ones are at the ‘experimenting’ age and if they are told by a statesman to ‘do it for your country’, count nine months from the date that statement was made, and you will see the fruits of it among the pupils in this country: a high rate of teenage pregnancies, school dropouts and new HIV infections. This is the best way of undermining the education of children whom Nujoma used to say are the ‘future leaders’ of this country. In any case, who will feed and take care of those extra mouths from unplanned parenthood if we have already experienced the high mortality rate of under-five infants, infanticide, baby-dumping and illegal abortion among the youth?It sounds like the former President is more in favour of some harmful cultural practices. Not long ago, when he declared that HIV-AIDS was biological warfare made by the imperialists (for Africans) without an iota of scientific proof. While addressing the Swapo Party meeting at Helao Nafidi in Ohangwena Region, he also called on girls to be taken through traditional weddings/ceremonies and then go back to school. If Namibia is to aim for a skilled society, the children must be encouraged, unconditionally, to study harder and complete their studies, at primary and secondary level, and then to go to institutions of higher learning, so that they can get remunerative employment in order for them to be able to make the responsible decisions when it comes to romantic relationships or making babies. Therefore, Nujoma’s call to pupils to make babies must be rejected and condemned.Namibia is a religious country – in which 95 per cent is said to believe in Christianity – which believes that romantic relationships come after marriage. Sex before marriage is a sin of committing adultery. Hence, I call upon the churches in this country to have a high moral ground and speak out against Nujoma’s ‘Have children and increase the workforce’ gaffe. The Namibian Constitution’s Article 14 (1) states, ‘Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, creed or social or economic status shall have the right to marry and found a family’. No wonder, Mr Nujoma’s 15 years in office (three five-year terms) dismally failed to find a durable solution to Namibia’s education system crisis, as he now erroneously thinks that having a large population will ‘wipe out poverty in our country and develop our economy’.I wish to appeal to parents, guardians, teachers and students to stay focused on education of the future leaders and workers of Namibia, the pupils. They must ignore and reject the contradictory statements promoting unprotected sex at an early age from the former President of Namibia. We must all, as Namibians, encourage this nation to live responsibly and be vigilant against immoral influence. Evaristo MuuleniNamibia Note: This letter has been shortened – Ed