Trigger Happy
With shock and horror we learned about the shooting of an innocent and defenceless three-year-old girl by members of the Namibia Defence Forces at the Bwabwata National Park this past week.
Her close shave with death shatters the trust we had for safety in our own backyards. She escaped death by a whisker and remains in a critical condition at a hospital in Windhoek and this unfortunate, but terrifying incident, that has no doubt emotionally and psychologically injured Alexia Kiel's parents, sister, kith and kin, is a first class case of gross negligence by trigger happy soldiers.
Such felony has added another black spot to the reputation of the country's tattered tourism image in the Kavango Region of north-east Namibia, which the Kavango Open Africa Route (KOAR) chairperson, Mark Paxton, describes as “an example of men in uniform abusing their power in a totally unprofessional and irresponsible manner and unreasonable conflict with tourists travelling in the park.”
If the soldiers stopped Harald, Alexia's father, surely they could have seen that he was a family man travelling with his family and not a poacher.
There is no justification for such extreme heavy handedness in dealing with civilians visiting our national parks. While we appreciate the efforts made to thwart escalating poaching incidents, it is unacceptable to open fire on innocent and defenceless civilians.
It is ironic that while the environment ministry is toiling to boost the tourism industry's performance and image, its efforts are thwarted by law overzealous enforcement officers who have made such a dangerous and deadly mistake.
It is also intolerable that this near fatal shooting incident is now being attributed to poor communication.
Civil servants are paid by the taxpayers to do their work efficiently. It is heart rending that this is what the Kiel family gets in return from the soldiers who are paid with their income tax money.
To add insult to the injury, the Ministry of Defence remains mum on the incident, calling off a press conference. We expect to see justice prevail.
Her close shave with death shatters the trust we had for safety in our own backyards. She escaped death by a whisker and remains in a critical condition at a hospital in Windhoek and this unfortunate, but terrifying incident, that has no doubt emotionally and psychologically injured Alexia Kiel's parents, sister, kith and kin, is a first class case of gross negligence by trigger happy soldiers.
Such felony has added another black spot to the reputation of the country's tattered tourism image in the Kavango Region of north-east Namibia, which the Kavango Open Africa Route (KOAR) chairperson, Mark Paxton, describes as “an example of men in uniform abusing their power in a totally unprofessional and irresponsible manner and unreasonable conflict with tourists travelling in the park.”
If the soldiers stopped Harald, Alexia's father, surely they could have seen that he was a family man travelling with his family and not a poacher.
There is no justification for such extreme heavy handedness in dealing with civilians visiting our national parks. While we appreciate the efforts made to thwart escalating poaching incidents, it is unacceptable to open fire on innocent and defenceless civilians.
It is ironic that while the environment ministry is toiling to boost the tourism industry's performance and image, its efforts are thwarted by law overzealous enforcement officers who have made such a dangerous and deadly mistake.
It is also intolerable that this near fatal shooting incident is now being attributed to poor communication.
Civil servants are paid by the taxpayers to do their work efficiently. It is heart rending that this is what the Kiel family gets in return from the soldiers who are paid with their income tax money.
To add insult to the injury, the Ministry of Defence remains mum on the incident, calling off a press conference. We expect to see justice prevail.
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Namibian Sun
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