EDITORIAL: Happy 80th birthday, Mr President!
Today we pause to wish, though belatedly, President Hage Geingob a revolutionary and happy birthday.
On the day he turned 80, the usual pomp and fanfare that mark Geingob’s earth day was inadvertently dwarfed by the heroics of young Christine Mboma at the Tokyo Olympics, and this left many of us with fewer words to spare, even for the Head of our Namibian House.
Eight decades on this planet, the lion’s share of which has been dedicated to serving the people, is no easy feat. Not by a long shot.
Geingob’s legacy cannot be confined to the tortuous past seven years of his presidency. It was, in fact, his brilliant record in the civil service that gave all of us hope that that success would be replicated in his presidency. Not quite.
Today we rejoice in the gift that is Geingob. The Geingob who started the United Nations Institute for Namibia from scratch, thereby enabling so many Namibians experience their first encounter with real education.
We cheer the Geingob who helped establish Namibia’s first post-independence civil service and chaired the Constituent Assembly, which midwived our globally-revered constitution and the democracy which later crawled out of its womb.
The past seven years have not mirrored the decorated legacy Geingob has written in the annals of our contemporary history, but on his 80th birthday, we wish him the necessary energy and wisdom to find his old self – the one we have always loved and admired.
On the day he turned 80, the usual pomp and fanfare that mark Geingob’s earth day was inadvertently dwarfed by the heroics of young Christine Mboma at the Tokyo Olympics, and this left many of us with fewer words to spare, even for the Head of our Namibian House.
Eight decades on this planet, the lion’s share of which has been dedicated to serving the people, is no easy feat. Not by a long shot.
Geingob’s legacy cannot be confined to the tortuous past seven years of his presidency. It was, in fact, his brilliant record in the civil service that gave all of us hope that that success would be replicated in his presidency. Not quite.
Today we rejoice in the gift that is Geingob. The Geingob who started the United Nations Institute for Namibia from scratch, thereby enabling so many Namibians experience their first encounter with real education.
We cheer the Geingob who helped establish Namibia’s first post-independence civil service and chaired the Constituent Assembly, which midwived our globally-revered constitution and the democracy which later crawled out of its womb.
The past seven years have not mirrored the decorated legacy Geingob has written in the annals of our contemporary history, but on his 80th birthday, we wish him the necessary energy and wisdom to find his old self – the one we have always loved and admired.
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