Bedroom politics gets MPs going…

WHAT started as a parliamentary debate on the crisis in the education sector yesterday, made a pit stop at the turn-off to denial, swerved into the realms of the intimate, and finally crashed into the bedroom.

It started when Deputy Lands Minister Isak Katali denied in the National Assembly that there was an education crisis. There was no way that Nora Schimming-Chase of the Congress of Democrats (CoD) was going to let this go unchallenged.She was quick to remind Katali that Prime Minister Nahas Angula had recently acknowledged that there was one.”Is CoD bringing the crisis to Parliament because they are in a crisis?” Justice Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana asked, hinting at the recent leadership crisis during a CoD congress last month.”Then the [Swapo] crisis is also in Jesaya Nyamu’s mind,” Schimming-Chase quipped.Nyamu, the former Trade and Industry Minister, was kicked out of the ruling Swapo Party after notes pondering the starting of a new political party were efficiently found in his ministerial office.CoD member Elma Dienda the fired off a rapid-fire response.Glancing in the direction of Gender Equality Minister Marlene Mungunda, she said: “You brought the Swapo crisis to the House when you talked about the bedroom crisis.”Earlier this year, Mungunda asked Deputy Health Minister Petrina Haingura, who had spoken on lack of respect for elders and public personalities, whether it was true that sometimes women had to sleep with high-ranking people in order to further their career.At this point, MPs collapsed with laughter.Iivula-Ithana then tried to deflect attention away from bedroom matters by wading into CoD territory again.”The real CoD” members were not present, she said.Whether this was an indication that Swapo would prefer the Ulenga group was not clear.Schimming-Chase and Dienda were present – Kala Gertze, Tsudao Gurirab and CoD leader Ben Ulenga were not present.Gurirab stuck to Ulenga after the recent party congress, while Schimming-Chase and Dienda were among those who walked out with Ignatius Shixwameni, following disputed elections.Schimming-Chase rose to reply to the Justice Minister: “I am not worried about the real CoD, the truth will come out before the next Swapo congress (in November) which is the right Swapo Party”.There was no way that Nora Schimming-Chase of the Congress of Democrats (CoD) was going to let this go unchallenged.She was quick to remind Katali that Prime Minister Nahas Angula had recently acknowledged that there was one. “Is CoD bringing the crisis to Parliament because they are in a crisis?” Justice Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana asked, hinting at the recent leadership crisis during a CoD congress last month.”Then the [Swapo] crisis is also in Jesaya Nyamu’s mind,” Schimming-Chase quipped.Nyamu, the former Trade and Industry Minister, was kicked out of the ruling Swapo Party after notes pondering the starting of a new political party were efficiently found in his ministerial office. CoD member Elma Dienda the fired off a rapid-fire response.Glancing in the direction of Gender Equality Minister Marlene Mungunda, she said: “You brought the Swapo crisis to the House when you talked about the bedroom crisis.”Earlier this year, Mungunda asked Deputy Health Minister Petrina Haingura, who had spoken on lack of respect for elders and public personalities, whether it was true that sometimes women had to sleep with high-ranking people in order to further their career. At this point, MPs collapsed with laughter.Iivula-Ithana then tried to deflect attention away from bedroom matters by wading into CoD territory again.”The real CoD” members were not present, she said.Whether this was an indication that Swapo would prefer the Ulenga group was not clear.Schimming-Chase and Dienda were present – Kala Gertze, Tsudao Gurirab and CoD leader Ben Ulenga were not present.Gurirab stuck to Ulenga after the recent party congress, while Schimming-Chase and Dienda were among those who walked out with Ignatius Shixwameni, following disputed elections.Schimming-Chase rose to reply to the Justice Minister: “I am not worried about the real CoD, the truth will come out before the next Swapo congress (in November) which is the right Swapo Party”.