President Nangolo Mbumba says nobody would object to the proposal that the 28th of May be commemorated as Genocide Remembrance Day in Namibia, if that is the common position of all descendants.

The Okandjoze Chiefs Assembly on Genocide sought President Mbumba's intervention in gazetteing the motion to officially promulgate May 28th, Genocide Remembrance Day.

It is also the day on which the genocide victims who were kept in the concentration camps were released.

This year marks 120 years since the extermination order issued by German colonial general Lothar von Trotha to the Ovaherero and Nama communities and 116 years since the closing of the concentration camps. 

"Hence our heartfelt desire and wish for your good office to urgently and in all earnest look into this matter to ensure that this year's commemoration of Genocide Remembrance Day has the official seal and blessing of our government. Descendants have already started to commemorate this day since last year. It is our wish that this year Genocide Remembrance Day will be commemorated nationally, and ideally, it will be an honour and privilege, Your Exellency, for you to grace the commemoration with your presence."

The promulgation of Genocide Remembrance Day has already received wide support, including from lawmakers.

President Mbumba says the proposals by the descendants are to guide the government, provided that all affected parties agree. 

Meanwhile, the annual genocide memorial service will take place on the 12th and 13th of April at Shark Island in Luderitz.

The service will be held under the theme 'Let the blood of our ancestors fuel our resolve for restorative justice'.

The event will start with a memorial walk. The tombstone that was erected at Shark Island last year, which had fallen and broken to pieces, will also be restored.