Double Duties For MPs

A S a matter of clarity I would like to request your newspaper to help publish this letter for me to share my concerns with the Namibian people.

I have noted that Regional Councillors who are members of the second house of parliament (National Council) are appointed mostly as Deputy Ministers. It is important to note that constitutionally it is acceptable, but one wonders whether such Members will be in a position to execute their triple duties namely as MPs, deputy ministers and as regional councillors.In reality most Regional Councillors operate in the regions in order to keep in touch with their communities.National Council MPs return to their constituencies after the parliament sessions in Windhoek and continue their work at the constituencies but in the case of those appointed as deputy ministers they will have to stay in Windhoek because they have offices at their Ministry headquarters.Therefore I strongly feel that the electorate at constituency level deserve to have services rendered to them by the respective councillors.It would be perhaps a good idea to revisit the Constitutional provisions of such appointments in order to ensure that Councillors become directly accountable to their electorates at constituency level.Whilst I fully agree with such appointments I am at the same time looking at the workload placed upon the Members and that they balance their parliamentary and councillors’ roles like others who are not appointed as Deputies.Moreover, the regional councillors who are appointed as Deputy ministers do not have enough time to concentrate on their constituency development initiatives as they are so busy with other national administrative duties.By so doing such constituencies might be left behind when it comes to the provision of public services which are manly orchestrated by Councillors.To this end I strongly recommend that the Constitutional provisions of such appointments be re-visited so as to come up with some mechanisms which will ensure that the Members are accorded the opportunity to fully function as regional Councillors to the benefit of their electorate.I hope my contribution will be heard by our respected lawmakers.Nicholas Nyambe Tembwe Onankali-South Combined SchoolIt is important to note that constitutionally it is acceptable, but one wonders whether such Members will be in a position to execute their triple duties namely as MPs, deputy ministers and as regional councillors.In reality most Regional Councillors operate in the regions in order to keep in touch with their communities.National Council MPs return to their constituencies after the parliament sessions in Windhoek and continue their work at the constituencies but in the case of those appointed as deputy ministers they will have to stay in Windhoek because they have offices at their Ministry headquarters.Therefore I strongly feel that the electorate at constituency level deserve to have services rendered to them by the respective councillors.It would be perhaps a good idea to revisit the Constitutional provisions of such appointments in order to ensure that Councillors become directly accountable to their electorates at constituency level.Whilst I fully agree with such appointments I am at the same time looking at the workload placed upon the Members and that they balance their parliamentary and councillors’ roles like others who are not appointed as Deputies.Moreover, the regional councillors who are appointed as Deputy ministers do not have enough time to concentrate on their constituency development initiatives as they are so busy with other national administrative duties.By so doing such constituencies might be left behind when it comes to the provision of public services which are manly orchestrated by Councillors.To this end I strongly recommend that the Constitutional provisions of such appointments be re-visited so as to come up with some mechanisms which will ensure that the Members are accorded the opportunity to fully function as regional Councillors to the benefit of their electorate.I hope my contribution will be heard by our respected lawmakers.Nicholas Nyambe Tembwe Onankali-South Combined School