That something which makes you hear your own heartbeat in your ears; the thing that makes you feel the blood pulsing through your veins and makes your breath come at shorter intervals, is the signature sign of fear. It gives that sense of full body muscular strain as if you have finished running laps around a track, yet you are sitting stone still. The throbbing of a massive headache begins behind your eyes and circles your head to engulf your temples. You feel like you have your hair braided too tightly, but actually it’s loose on the top of your head or hanging on your shoulders.

Sitting at a social event with some friends and colleagues the other day, the discussion of the threats coming from North Korea were the topic of conversation. One of the folks there said that a nuclear missile going off ‘over there’ had nothing to do with Namibia and that it was someone else’s problem.

In my opinion, the African Writers’ Series (AWS) is synonymous with two great names: Chinua Achebe of Nigeria and Ngugi wa Thiong’o of Kenya. Of course, each one of us will have their own favourite African authors, but, like I said, these two are my literary giants.

After 23 years of being in power, fatigue and complacency with the exercise of leadership can easily set in. This in turn can have corrosive effects on the developmental agenda of a country.