Why Voting Should be a Privilege,Not a Right

It has been 34 years since Namibia gained independence and developed a democratic government, which eligible Namibians vote for through elections.

In essence, Namibians rule themselves by entrusting the power to rule to political representatives – the president and political parties.

These representatives carry out the process of running the government in our stead for a five-year period before the next election.

Born at Rundu in 1995, I never personally experienced the fight for independence, so the value of voting escaped me when I disinterestedly cast my vote in the 2014 election.

People cry that voting doesn’t make a difference as they are disillusioned by the perceived inactivity of political leaders.

They feel our government does not do enough for the ordinary citizen, but this victim approach results from denying our own responsibility. It’s the failure to understand that the current government is our chosen government, and if it fails to deliver, then we have failed too.

It is for this reason I believe voting shouldn’t be a right. Not all eligible members of society are inherently qualified.

I feel voting rights should be earned in the same way as earning a driving licence.

The Namibian recently published a letter by W Smit proposing a “discriminatory kind of democracy”, in which only registered and consistent taxpayers would be eligible to vote.

He believes only these members of society care about how the country should be governed.

Naturally, I disagree, as this would betray the spirit of democracy.

What I propose is that all eligible citizens should earn the privilege to vote through a competency test.

This competency test would ensure voters appreciate the consequences and individual responsibility of their vote in an election.
Namibia is a fledgling republic and is far from mature, in my opinion.

We expect much from it, and that is the beauty of what we have.

We can build a better democracy.

Our government can only get more competent, and in cases where an elected government demonstrates incompetency, we’ll have an example of what not to do the next time we go to the polls.

Montezuma