06 April 2022
Honourable Speaker, Fellow Namibians,
I am pleased and honoured to be with you in this August House to deliver my 8th State of the Nation Address since becoming President of the Republic of Namibia. As we deliberate on the State of our Nation, we do so knowing that regardless of our political, religious, tribal, racial or class differences, we all have the same objective: to serve the people of Namibia.
We live in extraordinary times. To face the increasingly multi-layered challenges of the future, we need to find each other, not turn against each other.
In a democracy, we will have differences of opinion on how we approach the development question, but we are all Namibians, and the well-being of our country is of utmost importance to each one of us. This is a time that demands a collective mindset, a different way of doing things, and an understanding that Namibia and its citizens’ well-being has and will always be greater and more important than individuals. Fate calls on us to remove the walls of partisan thinking and assume the mantle of unity to ensure that we emerge from the rough waves we have faced and continue sailing towards the shores of peace, equity and prosperity. It is our collective duty to hold hands and reimage our Nation so that we can move forward as a Namibia ready to achieve her destiny; A Namibia defined by unity and shared national identity; A Namibia defined by peace and social harmony, and a Namibia defined by new economic opportunities and growth.
Honourable Speaker, Fellow Namibians,
Since assuming office, we witnessed the global economy experience a meltdown, which placed tremendous economic pressure on developing countries such as Namibia. To make matters worse, a period of relentless drought exacerbated the situation. The challenges of unemployment, land and housing delivery backlog and contracting economic growth continue to be compounded due to independent intervening variables.
Honourable Members, these are our realities. (Click here to download the President's SONA as pdf.)