EDITORIAL: Presidency has some explaining to do

State House is trivialising the matter of the first family travelling with a government delegation to Dubai by only confining the matter to who funded the trip. In fact, they played to the naivety of many Namibians who too are only interested in who funded the trip for the children of the president and his wife – as if to say this would vindicate everyone involved.

Of course it would be scandalous if it were proven that state funds bankrolled the first family’s trip. But proof to the contrary does not exactly exonerate the president, who should exercise caution and manage perceptions about his conduct. The first question that we all ought to ask is why are the president’s children on a government trip? President Hage Geingob has made it a point to always discuss business opportunities with potential investors when on these trips abroad, where those interested in Namibian resources are urged to partner up with Namibians. While his children have a birthright to do business, they have no inalienable right to take the front spot in the queue. In September, Geingob took his children to New York where he was on government business – the United Nations General Assembly.

On another government business trip to Africa Energy Week in Cape Town in October, another one of his children accompanied him. Now nearly all of them are in Dubai. Surely, they are not in the United Arab Emirates to ride camels.