Namibia is mourning one of the country’s promising young future leaders, James Uerikua, who died aged 43 in a car accident on Friday. One of his sons also succumbed to injuries sustained in the same accident. The Swapo parliamentarian and former Otjozondhupa governor leaves behind a promising career, one that his peers described as “a leader in the making”. He was a husband and a father to three boys. Born on 2 August 1982, Uerikua began his professional career as an extension technician at the then Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, serving at Maltahohe, Mariental, and Epukiro from 2006 to 2010. From 2010 to 2012, he worked as a development planner at the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement at Gobabis before moving on to the Office of the Prime Minister in Windhoek as principal development planner (2012–2014). He then rose to chief development planner in the Office of the Vice President in Windhoek, serving from 2014 until 2020. Uerikua served as governor of the ...