Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba, (born August 18, 1935) is the second and current President of Namibia.
He is a member of the South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) ruling party who won the 2004 presidential election with 76.4% of the vote, in what has been described as a "landslide". He was backed by long-time president Sam Nujoma, who was then serving his third five-year term; Pohamba has been described as Nujoma's hand-picked successor. Pohamba took office as president on March 21, 2005 and has since distinguished himself by careful but decisive moves against corruption. Prior to this, he was the Minister of public land.
As a child, he was educated at an Anglican mission. At the age of 25, Pohamba helped found SWAPO. He was arrested for his political activity but moved to Southern Rhodesia, where he was deported soon afterwards. He then spent four months in prison in Namibia before spending two years in Ovamboland under house arrest. [citation needed] In 1964, he went to Lusaka to set up SWAPO's Zambian office, and on his return, met the man who was later to become President, Sam Nujoma.[citation needed] Until the 1990s and Namibia's [More]
Source: wikipedia.org |