Ashley Nyambe
THE Ovambanderu Traditional Authority met with President Hage Geingob on Wednesday to discuss the community development concerns that the traditional authority considers worthy of the attention of the Head of State.
“We are the fourth tier of the Namibian governance, as a traditional authority. So, from time to time, we ought to meet the Head of State and share the issues that are within our community and the subjects that we are leading,” Ileni Henguva, the spokesperson for the traditional authority, said after the closed-door meeting.
The traditional authority also delivered a personal letter to the president and, according to Henguva, the letter further outlines some of the development concerns that were discussed during the meeting.
One of these concerns, Henguva explained, is the issue of land, which he emphasised cannot be exempted from discussions on development. He also said that issues related to the Herero and Nama Genocide were also featured in the letter.
Henguva further said that he did not want to divulge too much at this point as he believes that the president has not had a chance to read through the entire letter.
He further shared the Ovambanderu Traditional Authority is pleased that they were able to meet with the president.
According to him, the meeting shows that the traditional authority has a “foot in the door”, which means that they will also be able to engage the German government in the genocide negotiations.
“The fact that we were afforded an opportunity – we should be happy because we now know that the community issues that we are representing are at the highest table of the state,” Henguva added.
