Youth still being groomed - Geingob
Youth still being groomed - Geingob

Youth still being groomed - Geingob

The head of state says he has groomed many young people over the years, including Sacky Shanghala, Alfredo Hengari and many others.
Ogone Tlhage
President Hage Geingob says he is not opposed to appointing younger people to serve in his Cabinet and maintains that throughout his professional life, he has been instrumental in training many current leaders while they were still young.

Geingob was asked whether grooming was being conducted to transfer skills to younger people from older leaders. This happened after his announcement that Vice-President Nangolo Mbumba, together with Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and Deputy PM Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, would retain their positions in his new Cabinet, which will serve for the next five years.





The top four, as the president prefers to call his closest colleagues, have an average age of 69. Geingob and Mbumba are both currently aged 78, while Nandi-Ndaitwah is 67 and a younger Kuugongelwa-Amadhila is 52.

Recalling his ascendancy to the presidency, Geingob said that he only became president at an advanced age.

“President Nujoma was a young man when he became a freedom fighter. I was very young too; young until recently. I became prime minister when I was only 48, after a long struggle.”

According to Geingob, the current prime minister started her career in government at a relatively young age and the same is true for environment minister Pohamba Shifeta and urban and rural development minister Peya Mushelenga.

“People like Comrade Prime Minister was only 28 when she was appointed the director of the National Planning Commission; Peya and them… young fellas, Shifeta and them… young fellas, though some of them were out studying. There were young people so we groom young people.

“You see these people were there, back-benchers, they became ministers, deputy ministers first, some of them. So, you just want the youth to go and jump and grab people to become prime minister? How would you do that if you were in my position?”

Geingob said his grooming days started back when he was still the director of the United Nations Institute of Namibia in Lusaka, Zambia, when Swapo was in exile.

“I used to be a director of the [United Nations] Institute of Namibia. I used to have the youth there, grooming them, staying with them, eating with them, dancing with them. We are the ones who groom the youth. Even now we live with the youth,” he said.

Geingob added that this practice followed him during his first stint as prime minister from 1990.

“This question about the youth and me in my case, I had as prime minister in my office only appointed young people, it was called the kindergarten. All of these guys, [Alfredo] Hengari, [Stanley] Simataa, not from exile, I just saw people like Simataa on television and asked who is that fella, he sounds good. I had Sacky [Shanghala], he came from university. I appointed him; he was the youngest in my office.

“I didn't know these people at all, Mathe, Shiimi, its young boys I picked up as [prime] minister in my office, KK [Kazenambo Kazenambo] and them, I brought them up.”

OGONE TLHAGE

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-28

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Katima Mulilo: 19° | 37° Rundu: 17° | 33° Eenhana: 18° | 33° Oshakati: 20° | 31° Ruacana: 19° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 28° Omaruru: 18° | 31° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Gobabis: 17° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:54, High tide: 04:57, Low Tide: 22:58, High tide: 17:16 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 29km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:55, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:14 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 33km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:54, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:13 Rehoboth: 18° | 29° Mariental: 22° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 34° Aranos: 21° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 21° Luanda: 27° | 30° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 24° Mbabane: 15° | 23° Maseru: 12° | 28° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Cape Town: 17° | 23° Durban: 21° | 25° Johannesburg: 18° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 18° | 30° Harare: 15° | 31° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.93 | EUR to NAD 20.5 | CNY to NAD 2.62 | USD to NAD 18.97 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.8 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.21 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.97 | USD to ZMW 24.77 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 73909.5 Up +0.41% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1516.02 Down -0.13% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12981.98 Up +0.34% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 28224.37 Down -2.87% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - 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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 207.21/OZ UP +0.75% | Copper US$ 3.97/lb DOWN -0.0032 | Zinc US$ 2 443.40/T DOWN -0.53% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.13/BBP UP +0.86% | Platinum US$ 903.17/OZ UP +0.93%