Chief Samuel Ankama (27 October 1957 – 4 July 2021) was a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician, traditional leader, and educator. A member of SWAPO, Ankama was a member of the

National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of clos ...

from 2005 till 2021.

Career

Ankama was an internal SWAPO activist beginning in the early 1980s. He was an Information Officer in various organisations, including the

Council of Churches in Namibia The Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) is an ecumenical organisation in Namibia. Its member churches together represent 1.5 million people, 90% of the population of Namibia. It is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Afr ...

and the SWAPO-affiliated

National Union of Namibian Workers The National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) is one of three national trade union centers in Namibia. It was established in 1970 and is affiliated with SWAPO, Namibia's ruling political party. History NUNW was originally established as a gener ...

. In 1989, as Namibia's independence became closer, Ankama earned a bachelor's in education from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in Scotland. In 1992, Ankama became the first mayor of

Oshakati Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest places. Oshakati was founded in July 1966 and proclaimed a town in 1992. The town was used as a base of operations by the S ...

. Ankama left that position in 1995 when he received a scholarship to study at the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

in England, where he graduated from in 1996 with an MA in language studies. In 2001, he received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States towards his Ph.D., which he earned in 2003 from the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

in literacy and culture. His Ph.D. dissertation was in indigenous Namibian languages in the national education system. From 2003 to 2005, Ankama worked in several senior positions at the

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, as well as the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the follow ...

's northern campus in Oshakati. In 2005, he was selected for the SWAPO's list for the National Assembly at the 54th slot and was elected to the 4th National Assembly. Prior to the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

, Ankama moved up to the 37th spot on SWAPO's electoral list. He was re-elected and appointed Deputy Minister of Works and Transport. In the Cabinet reshuffle following the fifth SWAPO congress in 2012, Chief Ankama swapped positions with Chief Kilus Nguvauva and was the Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources. He died of post

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

related complications in

Ongwediva Ongwediva is a town in the Oshana Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Ongwediva electoral constituency. it had 27,000 inhabitants and covered 4,102 hectares of land. Ongwediva has seven churches, two private sch ...

Oshana Region Oshana is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Oshakati. The towns of Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa, all situated with this region, form an urban cluster with the second largest population concentration in Namibia after the c ...

on 4 July 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ankama, Samuel 1957 births 2021 deaths People from Oshana Region Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Academic staff of the University of Namibia Namibian chiefs University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Warwick SWAPO politicians People with albinism Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia 20th-century Namibian politicians 21st-century Namibian politicians Mayors of places in Namibia