A big thank you
By means of this communication I wish to take this opportunity to express a sincere thank you to my fellow Namibians for the overwhelming positive reaction and support which I received from all corners of our Country for my call that it was time for Namibians to act against crime.
In particular, I wish to sincerely thank the Inspector General of the Namibian Police, LT-General Sebastian Ndeitunga and senior members of his team including the Commander of Nampol in the Khomas Region, Commissioner Hoebeb for NamPol for the positive response and pledge to work closely with communities to fight and reduce crime for the good of all our people. I have no doubt that with the continuous support of these highest office bearers of the Namibian Police, the days of those criminals who have so far succeeded to holding our Nation hostage could soon be numbered. This police pledge of support is also coming at the right time when we as Namibians are called upon to get our house in order to enable our economy to survive the effects of the hardest hit in years in the global economy due to factors beyond our control.
My thanks also go to the many men and women (old and young) who either phoned or dropped me a personal note to share with me how crime over the years has affected either their own lives of the lives of their loved ones. Whilst I very much appreciate the overwhelming support for my call that Namibians should start speaking out against crime and hold if necessary even government accountable for serious failure and neglect in police response due to the unavailability of much-needed or basic tools of trade, the stories that so many Namibians shared with me, have indeed also brought an element of sadness to me. I have always been of the opinion that crime can be brought under control with a more dedicated focus by all Namibians, especially government and law enforcing agents. But never in my wildest dream did I imagine the extremely high number of sad stories about crime's brutal effect on our people which include even the poorest of the poor. Thus it remains a mystery to me why our Nation seems to have failed or waited so long to tackle crime with the same vigor which brought about our independence. To me our freedom as a nation will remain very restricted and even limited for as long as we are forced to: remain behind burglar bars in or own homes; our children are scared to even use the bathrooms at night and are no longer feeling save at home without their parents; money that could have used to buy much-needed basic facilities and food for our children is used to rather increase more security at our homes for the protection of our loved ones and still there is no end in side.
Whilst the sad stories are too many to reflect, I am particularly saddened by the story of a pensioner who was forced to alienate an immovable property which has been in his family for more than a hundred years. According to this pensioner after almost three years since he sold the property, he still have sleepless nights because he feels that he broke a long family tradition. But in his case he was left with no option as result of regular burglaries, theft, assaults on his family and Nampol's inability to bring the culprits to book over a very long period of time. Likewise thousands of our children continue to go hungry to bed almost on a daily basis. Most of the time, this is not because of the unavailability of money, but parents are continuously been forced to redirect even the last penny towards crime prevention. Sadly all this is happening in the land of the brave, not only a country with less than 2 mio residents, but a country where men/women of goodwill were long ago suppose to have taken a stand against the evil of crime. Now because we failed to act, crime in our beloved Namibia is about to be deeply rooted and some criminal like what we witnessed recently with the Nigerian mafias who defrauded some local banks are now using Namibia as a save heaven towards revenue generation.
The question is thus no longer who's fault it is or whether Government have invested enough in our Police Fore to prevent this evil or not? The question that we as Namibians should ask ourselves is whether our investments are effective and is working for the good of all our people? If the answer is yes, I and those who may feel otherwise or even at time betrayed by our own lawmakers will have no case. But if the answers is no, than as Namibians we do have the right and the obligation in the interest of our children to demand that our Government do much more to protect its citizens and visitors to our country against the evil of crime.
Our constitution does not only guarantee all Namibians the right to be protected against the evil of crime, but also to vigorously pursue a save and conducive Namibian environment where our children, grand children and guests can feel save and secure; and if not, to hold without fear both our lawmakers and law enforcing agents accountable.
It is totally unacceptable for our lawmakers and law enforcing agents to expect that Namibians in addition to taxes should also invest further in their own safety as well. Not only does this constitute a serious beach of trust and avoiding a legal obligation in terms of our constitution, but the majority of our people can also not afford to protect themselves against crime!
We must remember that as a nation we have deservedly acclaimed the status of a brave nation. As a brave nation we can therefore no longer afford to hide behind the usual excuse that we are still doing better than South Africa. South Africa's population is 25 times the population of Namibia. Thus naturally we odd to hear 25 time more about crime in South Africa than in Namibia. Let us therefore stop comparing ourselves with the worst in our region but with the best. As a nation if we are serious with vision 2030 and with the creation of a prosperous nation, let us rather start to benchmark ourselves with countries who have effectively acted against crime, such as Egypt in the 80s when this county's entire nation decided to act against crime following a brutal and cowardly act on bus full of tourist. To day it is estimated that 25% of the entire global tourist market to the African region do visit Egypt.
It is against the above that I very much welcome and appreciate the personal intervention of the Inspector General of the Namibian Police. Let us all support the Inspector General and give the Namibian police another change by again start reporting all crime related incidents to the Namibian Police as it should be in a free, independent and democratic nation. But on the other hand our law makers must not only see to it that our police force is well equipped to fight crime, but that all our investment in this regards are deployed and used by the police for the good of all Namibians and that the members of the force are held accountable in a transparent manner when they fail our nation.
Brian Black (Owner Airport Lodge and past National Chairman of HAN), Windhoek
In particular, I wish to sincerely thank the Inspector General of the Namibian Police, LT-General Sebastian Ndeitunga and senior members of his team including the Commander of Nampol in the Khomas Region, Commissioner Hoebeb for NamPol for the positive response and pledge to work closely with communities to fight and reduce crime for the good of all our people. I have no doubt that with the continuous support of these highest office bearers of the Namibian Police, the days of those criminals who have so far succeeded to holding our Nation hostage could soon be numbered. This police pledge of support is also coming at the right time when we as Namibians are called upon to get our house in order to enable our economy to survive the effects of the hardest hit in years in the global economy due to factors beyond our control.
My thanks also go to the many men and women (old and young) who either phoned or dropped me a personal note to share with me how crime over the years has affected either their own lives of the lives of their loved ones. Whilst I very much appreciate the overwhelming support for my call that Namibians should start speaking out against crime and hold if necessary even government accountable for serious failure and neglect in police response due to the unavailability of much-needed or basic tools of trade, the stories that so many Namibians shared with me, have indeed also brought an element of sadness to me. I have always been of the opinion that crime can be brought under control with a more dedicated focus by all Namibians, especially government and law enforcing agents. But never in my wildest dream did I imagine the extremely high number of sad stories about crime's brutal effect on our people which include even the poorest of the poor. Thus it remains a mystery to me why our Nation seems to have failed or waited so long to tackle crime with the same vigor which brought about our independence. To me our freedom as a nation will remain very restricted and even limited for as long as we are forced to: remain behind burglar bars in or own homes; our children are scared to even use the bathrooms at night and are no longer feeling save at home without their parents; money that could have used to buy much-needed basic facilities and food for our children is used to rather increase more security at our homes for the protection of our loved ones and still there is no end in side.
Whilst the sad stories are too many to reflect, I am particularly saddened by the story of a pensioner who was forced to alienate an immovable property which has been in his family for more than a hundred years. According to this pensioner after almost three years since he sold the property, he still have sleepless nights because he feels that he broke a long family tradition. But in his case he was left with no option as result of regular burglaries, theft, assaults on his family and Nampol's inability to bring the culprits to book over a very long period of time. Likewise thousands of our children continue to go hungry to bed almost on a daily basis. Most of the time, this is not because of the unavailability of money, but parents are continuously been forced to redirect even the last penny towards crime prevention. Sadly all this is happening in the land of the brave, not only a country with less than 2 mio residents, but a country where men/women of goodwill were long ago suppose to have taken a stand against the evil of crime. Now because we failed to act, crime in our beloved Namibia is about to be deeply rooted and some criminal like what we witnessed recently with the Nigerian mafias who defrauded some local banks are now using Namibia as a save heaven towards revenue generation.
The question is thus no longer who's fault it is or whether Government have invested enough in our Police Fore to prevent this evil or not? The question that we as Namibians should ask ourselves is whether our investments are effective and is working for the good of all our people? If the answer is yes, I and those who may feel otherwise or even at time betrayed by our own lawmakers will have no case. But if the answers is no, than as Namibians we do have the right and the obligation in the interest of our children to demand that our Government do much more to protect its citizens and visitors to our country against the evil of crime.
Our constitution does not only guarantee all Namibians the right to be protected against the evil of crime, but also to vigorously pursue a save and conducive Namibian environment where our children, grand children and guests can feel save and secure; and if not, to hold without fear both our lawmakers and law enforcing agents accountable.
It is totally unacceptable for our lawmakers and law enforcing agents to expect that Namibians in addition to taxes should also invest further in their own safety as well. Not only does this constitute a serious beach of trust and avoiding a legal obligation in terms of our constitution, but the majority of our people can also not afford to protect themselves against crime!
We must remember that as a nation we have deservedly acclaimed the status of a brave nation. As a brave nation we can therefore no longer afford to hide behind the usual excuse that we are still doing better than South Africa. South Africa's population is 25 times the population of Namibia. Thus naturally we odd to hear 25 time more about crime in South Africa than in Namibia. Let us therefore stop comparing ourselves with the worst in our region but with the best. As a nation if we are serious with vision 2030 and with the creation of a prosperous nation, let us rather start to benchmark ourselves with countries who have effectively acted against crime, such as Egypt in the 80s when this county's entire nation decided to act against crime following a brutal and cowardly act on bus full of tourist. To day it is estimated that 25% of the entire global tourist market to the African region do visit Egypt.
It is against the above that I very much welcome and appreciate the personal intervention of the Inspector General of the Namibian Police. Let us all support the Inspector General and give the Namibian police another change by again start reporting all crime related incidents to the Namibian Police as it should be in a free, independent and democratic nation. But on the other hand our law makers must not only see to it that our police force is well equipped to fight crime, but that all our investment in this regards are deployed and used by the police for the good of all Namibians and that the members of the force are held accountable in a transparent manner when they fail our nation.
Brian Black (Owner Airport Lodge and past National Chairman of HAN), Windhoek
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