APP wants referendum on regional governors

A BILL that aims to have regional governors appointed by the Head of State came under heavy fire from the opposition benches in the National Assembly.
‘This bill should be voted on in a referendum,’ demanded Ignatius Shixwameni of the all People’s Party (APP).

‘This bill is the wrong route to go and I wonder who was consulted beforehand on these changes?’ he wanted to know. He proposed that the bill should alternatively be referred to a parliamentary standing committee. Philemon Moongo of the DTA said the bill should be rejected, as it reversed Government’s decentralisation efforts.’It will not strengthen the unitary state but will instead cause unrest and divide the people because the regional leaders will be imposed on them. Let the nation choose who they want. The Swapo Government has decided to take a route that is a betrayal of the Namibian people,’ Moongo lashed out.’This bill is nothing else than to take over all powers and to place them under one person, being the Head of State,’ Moongo continued. ‘Namibia is … becoming an autocratic country,’ he added.’We now have reached a stage where regional leaders will be undemocratically imposed on the people and it is obvious that the President will appoint governors who can produce [more] Swapo membership with the hope of keeping Swapo in power in an autocratic way.’ According to Moongo, the President is already appointing ministers and the Police and Defence chiefs. ‘Probably mayors, school principals and traditional chiefs will also be appointed soon,’ he added sarcastically.DTA president Katuutire Kaura warned that the move by Government to appoint regional governors would cause big rivalry between the National Council and the National Assembly and would deepen the rift between the two Houses. He did not say so but it is common knowledge that the National Council, which consists of two regional councillors from each region, has for many years been feeling inferior to the MPs of the National Assembly because the NC is only the House of Review. In his maiden speech Steve Bezuidenhout of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) agreed with Kaura that the bill would create chaos and power struggles ‘between elected and appointed leaders’.According to him, it would ‘promote personalised authority and weaken institutions and encourage low levels of accountability in political life.’Prime Minister Nahas Angula tried in vain to reduce the scepticism among the opposition.’The people in the regions need attention and Government has made this a priority,’ he said. ‘The people must have a direct line [of communication] to the Head of State to bring matters to his attention.’Kaura of the DTA then asked the Prime Minister what the position of a future governor would be once he or she would be the direct line to State House. ‘Why not make the incumbent governors that direct link?’ he wanted to know.Before Angula could answer, Shixwameni asked if the governors’ new role was not a vote of no confidence in the Ministry of Local and Regional Government, which had handled the regions so far.Angula tried to explain that clinics, schools and social programmes run in the 13 regions did not directly fall under that Ministry. ‘We want to improve the regions and the Head of State can only solve problems of the regions dealing with the regional councillors and governors,’ he said.The current system that the regional councillors were electing the governors was causing difficulties, the Prime Minister added.’Who will be in charge of the regions, the unelected governors? Does it mean shifting the power [away] from the elected leaders?’ Shixwameni asked. According to the Prime Minister, the ‘function of the [new] governors is oversight and monitoring’.Justice Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana claimed that regional governors often had neglected their own constituencies.The debate continues.