Nujoma ready for fourth term

President Sam Nujoma said he was ready to run for a fourth term if the Namibian people indicated they wanted him to stay in office, the ‘Namibian’ reported on Tuesday. Nujoma last week declared himself fit to remain in office after his third term as president ended in 2005.

Nujoma was speaking to Frauke Roeschlau, a Namibian journalist working for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), whom he repeatedly implied was a foreigner who “sided with the enemy”, the report said. When asked if he would run for a fourth term, Nujoma said: “Well, if the Namibian people say that we want you to do this I am always at the disposal of the Namibian people. There is a constitution that guides our procedures that ought to be followed.” The interview has not been broadcast yet.

Soon after the 1994 election, when he won by an overwhelming majority, Nujoma told the BBC he was not keen on running for a third five year term in office, and that if the constitution was to be changed, a referendum would be held. However, he later changed his mind, declaring himself young enough to give it another shot. The constitution was amended, amid a lot of debate within the ruling SWAPO party, in parliament and in the media, to extend Nujoma’s rule for five years beyond March 2000.