WHY one deputy director of culture chose an international exchange programme between Namibia and Colombia to expose himself as a heavy and uncontrollable drinker, goes beyond my understanding.

That is why I would like to know whether senior civil servants are subjected to or regulated by ethical norms and values in their actions in public during official duties or are they allowed to abort any such human decencies at any public event?

I think this particular deputy director really stepped out of line one Saturday evening, obviously drunk and hardly able to keep his bloodshot eyes open in his drunken stupor. There are 365 days in the year, but he selected one recent Saturday evening to show his true drunken colours, and don’t tell me you were there in your personal capacity, you weren’t.

This director was as drunk as a lord before and during the international exchange dance presentation between Namibia and Colombia. How in the world does such action by this senior civil servant get unnoticed? His drunken antics, slurred speech and actions interfering with theatre-goers, basically stumbling over his own feet, smoking in the NTN foyer and making himself a general nuisance on the stage, cannot be left unchallenged.

This bad and uncontrollable drinking habit at events has been a serious problem the arts and culture sector have been struggling with for over a decade. I expected this man to be a role model, but alas, to no avail.

How on earth NTN allowed this so-called culture activist to address the audience is beyond any comprehension. The man was struggling to concentrate and speak audibly. He irritated half of the audience primarily existing of members of the diplomatic corps, local artists and me to such an extent that I wanted to scream out for someone to summarily remove him from the stage and out of the theatre.

In his position one would have expected much better of him, especially the youth who attended the superb performances, including my own two daughters. He should be seriously disciplined and reprimanded in the strongest of terms for embarrassing the many artists present, himself, the audience, the ministry and the Namibian government. His uncalled for and despicable actions demand that he apologises to the Namibian nation or alternatively resign from his post. God forbid that he gets appointed in the present vacant position of director.

Frederick B. Philander