Staff Writer
President Hage Geingob said the absence of any demands for gender inclusion at the third national Swapo policy conference held in Windhoek this weekend means that the Party has done on gender equality.
More than 600 delegates from all over Namibia attended the policy conference that ended on Saturday.
The issue of a woman president has been widely debated after the media quoted the founding president Sam Nujoma saying that he believed Swapo was ready.
Since the story broke out, the Swapo vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has been crisscrossing the width and breadth of Namibia, addressing her supporters.
The other female top leader whose name has been cast into the hat is Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila. However, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila is keeping whatever cards she has close to her chest.
It is also unclear what Geingob meant by saying that since no one demanded a woman president, it showed that Swapo had done enough on gender parity.
Geingob said there is no doubt that Swapo has met the objective of building a Party that strengthens capacity and sets policy direction for the Government.
“We have met our objective because the leaders from all our structures made tangible inputs – they should go and report to the rank and file,” Geingob said in his closing remarks.
He also said he had listened attentively to all participants and had observed the mood of comradeship.
Geingob praised the quality of the papers, the presentations, moderation and the rapporteurs.
“Once a teacher, always a teacher. As a teacher, I know that a paper is always subject to improvement – never perfect. With the inputs from the floor, which includes those among us who are closer to service delivery – regional councillors, local authority councillors and the leaders of Swapo in the region – papers benefitted immensely from these practitioners,” he said.
According to Geingob, he is confident that once the papers reach Congress later in the year, they will be more refined.
At the national level, Geingob said Swapo needs to do more to foster nationhood and find solutions for housing, youth empowerment, employment creation, and offer a competitive education.
He also listed finding solutions to poverty eradication by thinking about – forms of empowerment.
Internationally, Geingob spoke about Namibia’s place and how the country can align and ensure national interests are catered for.
At the Swapo Party level, he spoke about the need to improve monitoring and evaluation capabilities, asking to what extent the party manifesto was implemented and the challenges and opportunities?
“How should we campaign? Adaptation to respond to new threats within and outside the Party – changing political landscape – youth demographics,” he said.
Geingob said there is a need for an anchor paper from the Think Tank-a paper that analyses our governance architecture.
On national security, Geingob spoke about dealing with new internal and transnational threats – cyber security, youth unemployment, natural disasters, economic crimes, violent crime, economic crises and pandemics.
He added that robust processes, systems and institutions bolster effective governance.
