Diescho hits back on Council issue

THE National Union of Namibian Workers, Swapo Youth League and the Editor of Namibia Today are all barking up the wrong tree when it comes to his dispute with the Oshana Regional Council, says political analyst Dr Joseph Diescho.

The Council stirred up a hornet’s nest when they shunned a workshop to be conducted by Diescho, and which was arranged by the Office of the Prime Minister. They accused Diescho of being too critical of the ruling party.Diescho subsequently asked the Council to apologise or face a defamation claim of N$250 000.The NUNW, Swapo’s youth wing and Asser Ntinda of the ruling party’s mouthpiece, Namibia Today, have responded by engaging in a slugfest, lining up behind Regional Governor Clemens Kashuupulwa and his Councillors.They have warned Diescho to back off.But the political analyst is having none of it.While he has no personal quarrel with them, Diescho says, they should rather get all their ducks in a row before picking a fight where there is none.In a lengthy response (see elsewhere in today’s edition), Diescho says that the Council, NUNW, Swapo Youth League and Ntinda, have missed the point.”The whole matter would have been uncontroversial had the Council stuck to the point that there had been inadequate consultation with the Office of the Prime Minister, and desisted from questioning the intentions of the Directorate for Management Services in that national office,” Diescho said.He said the issue was not the fact that the Regional Council objected.”The issue that warrants legal litigation is the language which the Governor and members of his team used to cast aspersions on my work as a specialised professional in the subject I was to present.Is it not rather interesting that there have been Cabinet ministers in the workshops I had run previously and that they were not displeased with my output on the subject at hand?” When the Council objected to Diescho presenting the workshop, they first claimed that they had not been consulted in the decision to employ his services, but in the same breath said that he was too critical of Government.”It makes the argument that Swapo would be offended a bit sinister, because this is like saying that senior Ministers in the Government of Namibia care less about their party than the Oshana Council,” Diescho retaliated.He said if only people who held Swapo views were to offer workshops, then there was no need to waste resources on workshops “because we can all read the Swapo constitution and the Swapo manifesto as manuals for the leadership which will take Namibia into the future”.He said the content of the N$250 000 lawsuit against the Oshana Regional Council was not about the dislike of him or of independent thoughts, but rather what was said repeatedly, “which has inflicted hurt on me as a person, a citizen and a professional who is known to do rather well in the area for which I had been invited”.”Democracy is not about liking one another, but about giving one another space to as equals in making a contribution.The rest of the matter between the governor and myself we leave for interpretation in our capable and independent courts of law,” he said.Diescho said the NUNW’s reaction was “very unfortunate”, as the union was supposed to concentrate on issues related to workers and not on “matters that have nothing to do with their role in Namibian society”.”I for one have no quarrel with the union, and whoever instructed them to pick a fight with me should have known better.The matter is between me and those who defamed my name, not the Namibian workers with whom I sympathise when they have legitimate issues to fight for,” he said.He advised the leadership of the NUNW to use their time and resources to tackle the issues that they were entrusted to tackle, and not allow idleness to cause them to carry out what was not in their mandate.”They only make it look as though they are being instructed to bark by some or other master.This is totally unnecessary,” he said.According to Diescho, he had expected more from the Swapo Youth League than for them to sing in a choir the music of which they did not learn first.Describing Ntinda as a “securocrat”, Diescho questioned his grasp of basic journalistic ethics.”A journalism school would have instructed Mr Ntinda to report and not condemn one side.Journalistic ethics would have nagged Mr Ntinda to solicit my side of the story to give a balanced report.Other newspapers had the courtesy to obtain a response from me, and I thank them for that.Mr Ntinda did not do that.Instead he steamed ahead to opine and pontificate without the slightest compunction.He even forgets that he makes it very obvious that with his brand of journalism he is not reporting but singing for his lunch and supper, and clumsily at that,” he said.They accused Diescho of being too critical of the ruling party.Diescho subsequently asked the Council to apologise or face a defamation claim of N$250 000.The NUNW, Swapo’s youth wing and Asser Ntinda of the ruling party’s mouthpiece, Namibia Today, have responded by engaging in a slugfest, lining up behind Regional Governor Clemens Kashuupulwa and his Councillors.They have warned Diescho to back off.But the political analyst is having none of it.While he has no personal quarrel with them, Diescho says, they should rather get all their ducks in a row before picking a fight where there is none. In a lengthy response (see elsewhere in today’s edition), Diescho says that the Council, NUNW, Swapo Youth League and Ntinda, have missed the point.”The whole matter would have been uncontroversial had the Council stuck to the point that there had been inadequate consultation with the Office of the Prime Minister, and desisted from questioning the intentions of the Directorate for Management Services in that national office,” Diescho said.He said the issue was not the fact that the Regional Council objected.”The issue that warrants legal litigation is the language which the Governor and members of his team used to cast aspersions on my work as a specialised professional in the subject I was to present.Is it not rather interesting that there have been Cabinet ministers in the workshops I had run previously and that they were not displeased with my output on the subject at hand?” When the Council objected to Diescho presenting the workshop, they first claimed that they had not been consulted in the decision to employ his services, but in the same breath said that he was too critical of Government.”It makes the argument that Swapo would be offended a bit sinister, because this is like saying that senior Ministers in the Government of Namibia care less about their party than the Oshana Council,” Diescho retaliated.He said if only people who held Swapo views were to offer workshops, then there was no need to waste resources on workshops “because we can all read the Swapo constitution and the Swapo manifesto as manuals for the leadership which will take Namibia into the future”.He said the content of the N$250 000 lawsuit against the Oshana Regional Council was not about the dislike of him or of independent thoughts, but rather what was said repeatedly, “which has inflicted hurt on me as a person, a citizen and a professional who is known to do rather well in the area for which I had been invited”.”Democracy is not about liking one another, but about giving one another space to as equals in making a contribution.The rest of the matter between the governor and myself we leave for interpretation in our capable and independent courts of law,” he said.Diescho said the NUNW’s reaction was “very unfortunate”, as the union was supposed to concentrate on issues related to workers and not on “matters that have nothing to do with their role in Namibian society”.”I for one have no quarrel with the union, and whoever instructed them to pick a fight with me should have known better.The matter is between me and those who defamed my name, not the Namibian workers with whom I sympathise when they have legitimate issues to fight for,” he said.He advised the leadership of the NUNW to use their time and resources to tackle the issues that they were entrusted to tackle, and not allow idleness to cause them to carry out what was not in their mandate.”They only make it look as though they are being instructed to bark by some or other master.This is totally unnecessary,” he said.According to Diescho, he had expected more from the Swapo Youth League than for them to sing in a choir the music of which they did not learn first.Describing Ntinda as a “securocrat”, Diescho questioned his grasp of basic journalistic ethics.”A journalism school would have instructed Mr Ntinda to report and not condemn one side.Journalistic ethics would have nagged Mr Ntinda to solicit my side of the story to give a balanced report.Other newspapers had the courtesy to obtain a response from me, and I thank them for that.Mr Ntinda did not do that.Instead he steamed ahead to opine and pontificate without the slightest compunction.He even forgets that he makes it very obvious that with his brand of journalism he is not reporting but singing for his lunch and supper, and clumsily at that,” he said.