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2nd LD Roundup: Poverty eradication tops agenda of Namibia's new president

Xinhua, March 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hage Geingob was sworn in as Namibia 's new president on Saturday in the country's capital city Windhoek, vowing to make poverty eradication one of the major objectives of his administration.

The inauguration ceremony kicked off at 9:30 a.m. local time at the Independence Stadium. Namibian officials and foreign dignitaries, together with thousands of citizens, watched the ceremony.

In his first speech as president, Geingob declared all-out war on poverty, he reiterated poverty eradication would be one of the major objectives of his administration and he stressed, "no Namibian should be left out."

Geingob who is seen as more pro-business when compared to his two predecessors Sam Nujoma and Hifikepunye Pohamba on Wednesday gave cue to what his administration intends to do to tackle widespread poverty and high unemployment.

His pro-business approach could be attested by the creation of the Ministry of Industrialization that could boost Namibia's plans to become industrialized by 2030.

On Wednesday he also announced a new ministry that will deal specifically with poverty namely the Ministry of Poverty Eradication.

This ministry will also be responsible for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are seen as a key to give Namibia's economy a much-needed lift.

The creation of the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development could also see Namibia pumping more resources into low-cost housing schemes and at the same time arrest the high number of people migrating from rural areas to towns in search of jobs.

While employment creation in the Ministry of Labor bears testimony to Geingob's inaugural statement when he said transformation and a raft of policy measures should be taken to tackle poverty.

Geingob on Saturday stressed poverty eradication, jobs creation, improved service delivery are needed as a matter of urgency.He said voters do not eat good policies, a good constitution or democracy but that they eat food and thus they need jobs.

He said Namibians need food, shelter, jobs and clothing and he undertook to ensure he is a president that serves all Namibians to ensure there is prosperity for all citizens.

Among the dignitaries are Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Zambian President Edgar Lungu, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, Botswana's President Ian Khama, Gabon's President Ali Bongo and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, Transport Minister Yang Chuantang, also attended the ceremony.

The 74-year-old Geingob is the winner of last November's presidential election, is the third president of Namibia since the Southwest African country's independence in 1990.

A two-time prime minister of Namibia , Geingob first served as prime minister in 1990 until 2002. He has been the ruling Swapo party vice president since November 2007, a position that saw him being nominated as the party's sole presidential candidate at the party's highly contested December 2012 elective congress.

Geingob was born on Aug. 3, 1941 in the central-northern town of Otjiwarongo about 250 km from the capital Windhoek. In 1964, he was appointed Swapo representative at the United Nations and to the Americas. He served in this position until 1971. During the 70s he was also appointed as the Associate Political Affairs Officer to the United Nations Secretariat (Council for Namibia) and was later appointed to the Politburo of Swapo. Endi