Genocide confusion

Government has admitted to spending more than N$36 million on foreign-based lawyers to help prepare Namibia's case in the ongoing genocide negotiations with Germany. The question whether Germany will concede to demands to pay reparations to affected Namibian communities over the 1904-1908 genocide remains a mystery up to this stage. Premier Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila also admitted in the National Assembly last week that the response by their German counterparts was inadequate. “[But] the answer provided did not address specific details submitted by Namibia. Hence the negotiations are continuing between the two countries and the Namibian nation will be informed on the outcome of the negotiations,” Kuugongelwa-Amadhila was quoted as saying. As much as we welcome Namibia's envoy on genocide Dr Zed Ngavirue's openness on this matter, many commentators, including yours truly, are extremely worried about the huge sums of money spent to fight Namibia's case. We know that the attorney-general, Sacky Shanghala, has continuously defended the N$36 million bill paid to the legal experts. He has argued that the money was justified due to the importance of the matter and the fact that Germany was committed at ensuring that there is no legal culpability attached to their conduct some 113 years ago. The authorities owe the public an explanation on how much exactly has been spent on the genocide talks. The government's handling of the issue has been frowned upon since day one, with some key affected communities claiming they were not at all involved in the negotiations. Responding to a Namibian Sun article this week, former cabinet minister Kazenambo Kazenambo also criticised the government for watering down the genocide claim by referring to it as “atrocities”. There are clearly empirical inconsistencies as far as the authorities are handling the genocide issue as there appears to be no clearly defined role of the genocide committees and that of the envoy. The submission by Kuugongelwa-Amadhila that the public will be consulted on what to do with genocide reparations also adds confusion to the whole process. One would have thought that the Namibian government has outlined clearly what it expected from the Germans from the onset.