EDITORIAL: Keeping the nation in suspense
Like his late predecessor, President Nangolo Mbumba is buying time on Jerry Ekandjo’s anti-gay private member’s bills. Mbumba, like Hage Geingob before him, has silently decided not to touch the Jerry bills – not even with a 10-foot pole.
Their strategy, which is rather cowardly, seems to be to buy as much time as possible until their time in office lapses, so that this matter becomes the baby of the incoming president. Both Mbumba and Geingob want to be ‘soft life’ presidents, dealing with mellow issues of state, and not those that require difficult decisions. Yet, in order to make an omelette, one must inevitably break a few eggs. It comes with the territory. The due process of law-making does not afford the president infinite time before he pronounces himself on a bill forwarded to him by parliament. Both Ekandjo and the LGBTQ community are waiting with bated breath for Mbumba’s decision. Even neutrals are waiting. The nation is on tenterhooks - it cannot be kept in suspense any longer.
It’s pretty simple: The president, at his level, knows whether to agree with Ekandjo’s push to suppress views that favour same-sex marriages and to jail those ‘advocating’ and ‘propagating’ for same-sex marriages. He also knows what the Namibian Constitution says in juxtaposition to Ekandjo’s demands.
Taking this long to pronounce himself on these bills either means we have the wrong man in the highest office, or he is too scared to make his views known. Neither of these scenarios fits the stature of a president.
Their strategy, which is rather cowardly, seems to be to buy as much time as possible until their time in office lapses, so that this matter becomes the baby of the incoming president. Both Mbumba and Geingob want to be ‘soft life’ presidents, dealing with mellow issues of state, and not those that require difficult decisions. Yet, in order to make an omelette, one must inevitably break a few eggs. It comes with the territory. The due process of law-making does not afford the president infinite time before he pronounces himself on a bill forwarded to him by parliament. Both Ekandjo and the LGBTQ community are waiting with bated breath for Mbumba’s decision. Even neutrals are waiting. The nation is on tenterhooks - it cannot be kept in suspense any longer.
It’s pretty simple: The president, at his level, knows whether to agree with Ekandjo’s push to suppress views that favour same-sex marriages and to jail those ‘advocating’ and ‘propagating’ for same-sex marriages. He also knows what the Namibian Constitution says in juxtaposition to Ekandjo’s demands.
Taking this long to pronounce himself on these bills either means we have the wrong man in the highest office, or he is too scared to make his views known. Neither of these scenarios fits the stature of a president.
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