The most eminent and most qualified have eloquently spoken, notably, Dr. Hifikepunye Pohamba and former  Minister Ben Amadhila. These tributes led me to have cold feet as I thought to myself “what is there to say still?”  I braved up, for everyone’s contact with Sam Nujoma has its own experience and hence, its own story.  
The curtain on my mind opens with my first ever meeting with President Sam Nujoma in New York. He had come from the front for the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly and I was graduate student in New York at Columbia University. During this time President Nujoma spoke at the liberation support fundraising event jointly organized by the American Committee on Africa and Trans Africa, led by George Houser and Randall Robinson respectively. I accompanied Theo-Ben Gurirab to the president and sat in as they discussed the speaking notes to the said event. As we went through the notes, President Nujoma asked me for a word that I had used the previous day when we met George Houser. I was lost and as I grappled around he said: “it ended with relations”.  Gurirab said, “the word was “symbiotic relations” and President confirmed comfortably. President Nujoma gave a thrilling address that had the predominantly African American community audience from Harlem New York on their feet for most of the time. When he weaved into his off the cuff notes the word “symbiotic relations”, Gurirab remarked proudly: “That is the Sam Nujoma I serve: always alert; focused”.
He was a leader of elevated statue, a teacher and caring parent to all the children of his nation. But equally, he was a fast leaner.
History records that during his stay in Windhoek he met Chief Hosea Kutako of Ovaherero and outstanding statesman who had embraced all the cultural communities in hitherto South West Africa. Young Nujoma took affinity to Kutako, mingled with fellow young men and women who frequented Kutako’s space and in time, Nujoma cut his political teeth at the feet of Hosea Kutako, he worked with Chief Kutako and his Chief’s Council until Kutako sent him to join Namibian petitioners at the United Nations, Michael Scott, Mburumba Kerina and Jariretundu Kozonguizi, all who had been effectively mobilizing the community of nations the world over, so that they bring pressure to bear on the racist Apartheid government in South Africa. Nujoma spearheaded the creation of SWAPO, the liberation movement second to none in the struggle for the liberation of Namibia. President Nujoma was proponent of a strong government and vibrant education institutions. During the process of setting up the new Namibian government I served on the President’s Human Resources Committee that was to advise the president on the formation of government and best human capital. The committee was composed of SWAPO big guns: Nahas Angula, Theo-Ben Gurirab, Hidipo Hamutenya, Martin Shali; Martin Shipanga Senior. The committee pulled together a government template that would draw in persons from the larger Namibian social and political spectrum and to this effect a number of elected political parties were approached. Some declined while some accepted the invitation to serve in the prospective SWAPO Government. I served as founding Permanent Secretary for Information and Broadcasting before I moved along to the University of Namibia.
President Nujoma had passion for education and through his single-mindedness to pull in one direction, the country was able to unite the hitherto disparate education system and harmonize the curricular content, albeit with persistent challenges.  He played a critical role in the establishment of tertiary education notably the University of Namibia, which he served as founding Chancellor with Professor Peter Katjavivi as founding Vice Chancellor. I was the founding Dean of Students and coordinated for Special Infrastructure Development Projects, such as learning resource centers and student accommodation facilities.
President Nujoma believed that it was only through education that the government could prepare young Namibians to add value to national development. He was a strong proponent of gender inclusivity and empowerment at various levels in education. He strongly believed in science and technology education as these subjects had been denied children of the black population during the Apartheid era while these subjects were critical to the production of natural resources. In time President Nujoma enrolled as Geology student with the University of Namibia while he was Head of State and to this effect he encouraged the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle to enroll with educational institutions in order to improve and further their educational careers, impressing upon them that, age was not a limiting factor to knowledge. President Nujoma was a firm believer that the whole country had to benefit equally from educational resources and he encouraged the University of Namibia to establish satellite campuses around the nation in order to enable country-wide access to quality education so as to facilitate equal opportunities to the children of Namibia. The president made it a point to visit university centers each time he undertook a nation-wide visit and he would share his observations with the university Vice Chancellor.
President Nujoma has left Namibia to present and future generations and I can imagine hearing him say following words as he exits the stage: I have given my all and I have kept the faith for serving my people and creating a free, united democratic society.  I know that you will miss me, just as I shall miss you dearly. Please miss me, but let me go, for my time has come.