{"id":14988,"date":"2022-03-15T17:21:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T17:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past"},"modified":"2022-03-15T18:26:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T18:26:40","slug":"commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past","title":{"rendered":"Commonwealth urged to dump colonial past"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>EXECUTIVE director of the Institute for Public Policy Research Graham Hopwood has called on the Commonwealth to do away with its colonial origins and focus more on good governance.<\/b><\/p>\n

His sentiments came as Namibia and other members of the Commonwealth celebrated Commonwealth Day yesterday, under the theme: ‘Delivering a Common Future: Con- necting, Innovating, Transforming’.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, Britain should not be the host of the Commonwealth, maybe it will be sensible in the future to rotate all the leader- ship’s positions among countries,\u201d he said. Hopwood said the Commonwealth should not have Queen Elizabeth II as its head.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch prominence should move away because as long as the queen is the head of the Commonwealth, it still has a colo- nial element to it. It still has some kind of link to the British empire which would be inappropriate in the 21st century,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hopwood said the British connection should become less and be joined to countries that have shared values around democracy and human rights. \u201cI think it’s probably still a worthwhile organisation, but it needs to be moved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the significance of the day, president Hage Geingob said Namibia continues to adhere to the grouping’s shared goals of prosperity, democracy and peace.<\/p>\n

In his speech, he said Namibia recognised the importance of connectivity, innovation and transformation as key elements to deliver on Namibia’s future goals, in line with the objectives of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs per our Harambee Prosperity Plan II, we endeavour to redress inequality, alleviate poverty and create employment opportuni- ties, especially for the youth,\u201d he said. Delivering a message from Queen Eliza- beth II, speaker of the National Assembly Peter Katjavivi read:<\/p>\n

\u201cThat the Commonwealth stands ever taller is a credit to all who have been in- volved. We are nourished and sustained by our relationships and, throughout my life, I have enjoyed the privilege of hearing what the relationships built across the great reach and diversity of the Commonwealth have meant to people and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The queen said the Commonwealth re- mains an influential force for good in the world for many generations to come. Ambassador Kaire Mbuende said the Commonwealth helped develop Namibia’s capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commonwealth provided training to many Namibians before and after inde- pendence. It also provided support to many ministries, including education and justice, and seconded various experts to help develop capacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mbuende said the Com- monwealth is not a negotiat- ing forum but contributes to preparing its members for progress on the appropriate fora. \u201cI regard the Common- wealth as an important multi- lateral forum. It set up working groups to try and resolve political impasses in countries like Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Fiji,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mbuende added that Com- monwealth platforms should be used to fight against, among other things, racism. \u201cThe Commonwealth is not the British embassy, because many members of the Commonwealth do not regard the queen as their head of state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens in Britain should not affect our attitude towards the Common- wealth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. EXECUTIVE director of the Institute for Public Policy Research Graham Hopwood has called on the Commonwealth to do away with its colonial origins and focus more on good governance. His sentiments came as Namibia and other members of the Commonwealth celebrated Commonwealth Day yesterday, under the theme: ‘Delivering a Common Future: Con- […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-14988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nCommonwealth urged to dump colonial past - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EXECUTIVE director of the Institute for Public Policy Research Graham Hopwood has called on the Commonwealth to do aw ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commonwealth urged to dump colonial past\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EXECUTIVE director of the Institute for Public Policy Research Graham Hopwood has called on the Commonwealth to do aw ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-15T17:21:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-15T18:26:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/03\/img-6230da0b043f0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"468\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Commonwealth urged to dump colonial past\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-15T17:21:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-15T18:26:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past\"},\"wordCount\":528,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/03\/img-6230da0b043f0.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/commonwealth-urged-to-dump-colonial-past\",\"name\":\"Commonwealth urged to dump colonial past - 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