Rampant consumerism is not democracy or success
Dear leaders,
It is clearly safe to state, and justified to ask for, an immediate stop to the self-congratulations and backslapping. Just to clarify, for it seems there is confusion or, things are not very clear: What is going on in Namibia at the moment is not successful democracy, but simply über-successful consumerism, in this case unfortunately, fuelled by rampant corruption and the stealing and looting of public resources.
It also seems that the future path, along current lines of progress, will unfortunately not be one of further success or bettering democracy - if you weigh up 'development' for the few, against real social progress for the many.
Driving flashy cars and wearing flashy clothes are not symbols of success, but rather, utter failure because it is now very clear, that for the money spent on every flashy car for instance, there has to be at least several hundred people going hungry and without shelter or basic medicines for a long time, in order for the books to balance.
This is the sad, but also dangerous bit - judging by the way you are failing the people, which is the exact opposite of what is supposed to be your objective.
Evidence against you is as devastating as the devastation out there, every single day, in real life where people try and eke out a living - without food, medicines and proper education, for that money has already been 'channelled' for or 're-allocated' to unnecessary, wasteful consumerist things.
It is also worthwhile to remember that all shiny things will eventually turn into junk (like a country's credit rating can) if you don't look after it, while people can be incredibly productive assets - providing they are looked after.
All of this, of course, does not bode well for the future either - with young people coming through the system seeing and experiencing this first hand.
At the current rate, the only legacy that you are going to be leaving behind is that you laid the foundations and set up future generations for abject failure - a far cry from what you set out to achieve, so long ago, and a bit like our neighbour in a country close by.
It is clearly safe to state, and justified to ask for, an immediate stop to the self-congratulations and backslapping. Just to clarify, for it seems there is confusion or, things are not very clear: What is going on in Namibia at the moment is not successful democracy, but simply über-successful consumerism, in this case unfortunately, fuelled by rampant corruption and the stealing and looting of public resources.
It also seems that the future path, along current lines of progress, will unfortunately not be one of further success or bettering democracy - if you weigh up 'development' for the few, against real social progress for the many.
Driving flashy cars and wearing flashy clothes are not symbols of success, but rather, utter failure because it is now very clear, that for the money spent on every flashy car for instance, there has to be at least several hundred people going hungry and without shelter or basic medicines for a long time, in order for the books to balance.
This is the sad, but also dangerous bit - judging by the way you are failing the people, which is the exact opposite of what is supposed to be your objective.
Evidence against you is as devastating as the devastation out there, every single day, in real life where people try and eke out a living - without food, medicines and proper education, for that money has already been 'channelled' for or 're-allocated' to unnecessary, wasteful consumerist things.
It is also worthwhile to remember that all shiny things will eventually turn into junk (like a country's credit rating can) if you don't look after it, while people can be incredibly productive assets - providing they are looked after.
All of this, of course, does not bode well for the future either - with young people coming through the system seeing and experiencing this first hand.
At the current rate, the only legacy that you are going to be leaving behind is that you laid the foundations and set up future generations for abject failure - a far cry from what you set out to achieve, so long ago, and a bit like our neighbour in a country close by.
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Namibian Sun
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