Leader of the Association for Localised Interest (Asoli) Josef Kauandenge has described the exclusion of the genocide descendants in the tomorrow's Remembrance Day as a "slap in the face".

This comes after the government released the Remembrance Day programme, which lists president Netumbo Nand-Ndaitwah as the key speaker.

"What is perplexing to the core is the absolute absence of any traditional chiefs on the official program. Who is better positioned to talk on behalf of his or her subjects then if it is not the various traditional chiefs, who represent the vast majority of those descendants of the 1904 genocide war?" Kauandenge asked in a statement issued on Tuesday.

Kauandenge said Nandi-Ndaitwah's administration has excluded genocide descendants, describing it as a travesty and an affront to the truthful representatives, "who have been ignored on purpose".

Kauandenge said it does not sit well with the descendants and their traditional chiefs, that they have been ignored on the same day on which they must reflect on the sacrifices made by their forefathers and mothers in the name of a free and independent Namibia.

He also claimed that history will not be kind to nandi-Ndaitwah and her administration.

"At [the genocide's] first official commemoration, she chose to ignore the very same people who have fought tooth and nail to have this day declared a public holiday, in remembrance of their fallen heroes," he said.

He expressed his belief that the president should have demonstrated greater sensitivity to the descendants of those affected by the genocide by incorporating their inputs into the programme.

Kauandenge said that, as it stands, the day will be commemorated by the government without giving ownership to the representatives of the descendants.