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After the 1988 accords between South Africa and the ONU, Pohamba returned to Namibia in 1989 to prepare the first election as the director of the campaidn for SWAPO. SWAPO won the elections gaining 57% of the votes; Pohamaba was elected deputy of SWAPO under the leadership of President Sam Nujoma.
Independance was declared March 21, 1990 during which time Pohamba becomes Minister of the Interior. He also holds a post as Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Resources and Minister of Agriculture.
As Minister of Agriculture, Pohamba was charged with leading agriculture reform: white farmers, ancient colonist, held most of the cultivable land as in Zimbabwe. Pohamba followed the route of his predecessor, bringing together whites who wanted to sell and blacks who wanted to buy before promoting a policy of forced and calculated expropriation which former Prime Minister Hage Geingob was hesistant to support.
Pohamba climbed the hierarchy of SWAPA becoming Vice-President in 2002.
Always in the shadow of the father of independence Sam Nujoma, Pohamba becomes the presidential candidate for on May 30 2004. Nujoma's support was necessary in order for Pohamba to succeed as an official candidate for SWAPO and stand apart from the two other candidate Hidippo Hamutenya and Nahas Angula.
In his plateforme, Pohamba promised to fight against corruption, crime, the spriad of AIDs, and the redistribution of agricuture land.
He is elected president during the elections of November 15-16, 2004. In the legislature, SWAPO won 55 out of 72 seats. The transfer of power with Sam Nujoma took place March 21, 2005.
Since he has become President, Pohamba has suprised many buy his modesty and moderation which contrasts with Sam Nujoma who was known for his remarks against homosexuals, whites, and his political ennemies among others.
Depuis qu'il est président, Pohamba a surpris beaucoup d'observateurs par sa modération et sa modestie, contrairement à Sam Nujoma qui était connu pour ses sautes d'humeur répétées contre les homosexuels, les blancs, et ses ennemis politiques, entre autres.
Hifikepunye Pohamba is equally the President of SWAPO since November 2007 et is up for reelection in 2009.
Source: wikipedia
Pohamba is the second and current President of Namibia. He won the 2004 presidential election overwhelmingly as the candidate of the South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) ruling party, taking office in March 2005. He has also been the President of SWAPO since November 2007.
Hifikepunye Pohamba was born in Okanghudi in the region of Ohangwena in the central north of South West Africa under the South African mandate. He was married in 1983 and has six children.
After his finishing studies in a local anglican mission, Pohamba found a job working as a secretary for a mining company. He became involved in the political organization SWAPO (South-West African People's Organization) in 1960. His involvement with SWAPO led to his arrest; he was also chained and beaten in public. He left for Rhodesia before he was exiled in 1961. He spent four months in prison before he was assigned a residence.
Exiled once again from 1964 to 1966, Pohamba returned to his country with his mentor Sma Nujoma once the South African government notified the ONU that exiles were permitted to return. He picks up where he left fighting for independence which again leads him to becom exiled. During the time he spent on Algeria, where he lived for two years, he learns French.
In 1970, he is elected to the central commity of the SWAPO and seven years later to the political bureau of the party. Locationed in Angola where the MPLA leave him alone, he establishes a SWAPO department in Luanda.
In 1980, Pohamba leaves for Moscow to study at L'Université russe de l'Amitié des Peuples; he receives a degree in political science.
Pohamba undergoes military training in Zambia and Tanzania as the SWAPO guerrillas were pursuing military action agaist the South African power which continues to act as the administrator of the South West Africa/Namibai when the legal mandate had been over since 1968.
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