Northerners are disadvantaged – RDP

The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) says many people in the north of the country are excluded from the mainstream economy.

RDP secretary general Cecil Nguvauva said this in an interview with Desert Radio on Saturday.

“While we often criticise the current administration for favouring only northerners, we also recognise that there is a significant inequality gap,” he said.

Nguvauva said the assumption that everyone in the north is benefiting is “a lie”.

“Look at the infrastructure development for instance. There are still children who are taught under trees in the Ohangwena region. Look at the roads and water availability,” he said.

“Agriculture in the regions is not benefiting them as it is supposed to.

The prices of livestock are far, far behind, as well as the quality of their animals,” he said.

Nguvauva said some northerners benefit, but not the whole region.

The RDP has postponed its manifesto launch to next weekend at Oshakati.

Nguvauva said the manifesto focuses on education, employment creation, development, industrialisation, agriculture, land issues, energy, water availability and health issues.

He said the party will focus on bread-and-butter issues, creating opportunities and fostering a sense of belonging.

“Take the health system, for example. If you look at Katutura State Hospital, the condition it’s in right now is alarming. It’s one of the oldest buildings handling health services and it is severely overcrowded,” Nguvauva said.

Political analyst Rui Tyitende says it is evident that Nguvauva is appealing for a sympathy vote from the Aawambo people.

“Unfortunately, that train has left with the demise of the RDP’s founder, Hidipo Hamutenya, who subsequently rejoined Swapo before his death,” he said.

The RPD is dead, and any form of ethnic entrepreneurship will not be able to save it, Tyitende says.

“He should be advised to study and comprehend the Multidimensional Poverty Index of the Namibia Statistics Agency and get a sense of the ethnic groups that are socially and economically disadvantaged.”

Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah agrees with Nguvauva’s comments.

“He is pointing out the real issue of inequality. Many people in the north are being pushed out of the system and left behind – contrary to the belief that they benefit more than the rest of the country,” he says.

Kamwanyah says inequality applies to everyone – not to certain regions only.

“It will be important to see how the RDP plans to address the problems of inequality and economic exclusion,” he says.

Former ambassador Pius Dunaiski says he finds Nguvauva’s remarks surprising.

“My first instinctive reaction was that Namibia’s politics has become a sad or sick joke.

“Knowing that northerners’ numbers pivot power at political and socio-economic level in Namibia, the statement is not so unsurprising,” he says.

Dunaiski says the RDP is rooting for a seat or two without regarding the situation on the ground.

“Politics in Namibia has been prostituted or cheaply commercialised. No organic or self-respecting person can speak such non-sensical things,” he says.

Nguvauva graphically exposed the RDP’s political grave, Dunaiski says.