Portrait politics - Nujoma still smiling

Do portraits of political leaders in government offices indicate whose boss? A Namibian rights body seems to think so. Nearly a year after Sam Nujoma stepped down as Namibian president, his beaming official photograph is still on display, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has complained. According to the rights body, the continued presence of Nujoma's portrait, depicting him as head of state, has raised weighty questions about who really is in charge of the country. President Hifikepunye Pohamba, groomed for the top job by Nujoma, who retired after 25 years with the title 'Father of the Nation', will have served a year in office in March. "These portraits [of Nujoma] are creating a conflicting impression of who is running the government, and most people still think that Nujoma is still the president when he is now just an ordinary citizen of the country," Dorkas Phillemon, NSHR's spokeswoman, told IRIN. Nico Horn, director of the Human Rights and Documentation Centre at the University of Namibia, has also called for a clear distinction between the past and current heads of state. "You find that in some government offices Nujoma's picture is on one wall, while Pohamba's is hanging on another, giving an impression that the country has two presidents." But Pohamba's office has rejected the fuss. "Even if you go to South Africa or even the United States, you will still find pictures of [former] president Nelson Mandela or Bill Clinton," said Ben Nangombe, a spokesman for the president. Academics like Phanuel Kaapama, a political science lecturer at the University of Namibia feels a tussle over the portraits was a waste of time - "ordinary people know who the president is". He denied the suggestion the issue was indicative "of any tension between Nujoma and Pohamba, it is just a question of respecting the founding father of the country". He added that the continued use of Nujoma's portrait was actually symbolic of Pohamba's style of governance which was "conciliatory" and not "confrontational". The white bearded Nujoma, the leader of Namibia's armed liberation movement, has ruled the country since independence from South Africa in 1990, winning three elections in a row. He formed SWAPO, the ruling party, in 1960.