Youth urged to fight for better life to honour Nujoma

Former Cabinet minister and freedom fighter Ben Amathila on Monday urged young people to fight for economic freedom.

Amathila was paying tribute to liberation struggle icon Sam Nujoma.

“The fight is not over. And that’s where the young people have to define their struggle, to make sure that our people have the life that we planned for them long before we returned to our country,” he said.

Amayhila said the country has the potential to make sure each and every Namibian enjoys life.

“The country has the potential for the education of the young people to be the best, if only we become less individualistic and become united in every effort to reach that goal of looking after each and every one of our citizens,” he said.

Amathila echoed the sentiments of the late president Hage Geingob, who said the second phase of the struggle is for economic emancipation. Geingob said this emancipation would need to address poverty, inequality, unemployment and climate change.

Namibia is the second most unequal country in the world, after neighbouring South Africa.

“Unity is so paramount, and that is one thing that we have to take from Nujoma, unity,” he said.

Amathilda said currently, Namibians seem to be going backwards, redrawing the borders, and saying things that will take the country back to where our forefathers used to be.

“We cannot afford that,” he said.

The former lawmaker and Cabinet minister said it is only unity that can keep people together.

“If we are not united, we are going to be used against each other, we can lose this country. And this is what Nujoma has been fighting for, fighting against, to make us ‘One Namibia, One Nation’,” he said.

Economist Omu Kakujaha-Matundu yesterday said economic emancipation cannot coexist with inequality.

“In the face of a big gap between the minority haves and majority have-nots, the vast majority of the populace will be in economic bondage,” he said.

Kakujaha-Matundu said that is why economic emancipation is crucial.

“In the same vein, economic emancipation cannot happen amid cronyism, nepotism, and widespread corruption,” he added.

Social scientist Ndumba Kamwanyah says to emancipate Namibians is to equip them with skills needed for high-paying jobs and entrepreneurship and that developing policies that promote small and medium enterprises, having access to credit, and market opportunities will help Namibians build wealth, promoting land and resource ownership.

“Reforms that allow locals to benefit from these resources will help reduce economic dependency. Ensuring fair wages, better working conditions, and industrial diversification will boost employment and economic stability,” he says.

The social scientist says inequality prevents economic growth from benefiting everyone.

“When wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, most people struggle to access capital, education and opportunities,” he adds.

At least 62% of the country’s households do not own or have rights to the land they live on.