Government slighted by RDP walkout

The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) walkout from Parliament on Wednesday just as President Hifikepunye Pohamba was to start his State of the Nation address has left a bitter taste in Government’s mouth.

Minister of Information and Communication Technology Joel Kaapanda issued a statement saying the walkout was ‘ill-conceived and does in no way show political maturity whatsoever’. He said the RDP’s boycott of the President’s address was ‘misdirected because the President is merely carrying out his constitutional obligation’. RDP secretary general Jesaya Nyamu justified the walkout as an act of protest against the Supreme Court’s delay in providing a verdict on the 2009 election court challenge. Kaapanda said the State of the Nation address is a routine event when the Head of State addresses a joint Parliament that includes the National Council and provides an opportunity for opposition parties to pose questions directly to the President and receive answers immediately.Those opposition party leaders who did pose questions to Pohamba, some of whom are co-appellants in the election court challenge, however felt that Pohamba had addressed their questions in a vague and lukewarm fashion. ‘I did not feel satisfied but also do not think he [Pohamba] could have done any better because people will always deal with issues in a slippery fashion,’ said Congress of Democrats (CoD) president Ben Ulenga. Among other things, Ulenga wanted to know how Government is to deal with the education sector that many think is in need of repair, commenting that the Swapo Party government feels no pressure to perform because it is secured of a rural, uneducated voter support base. ‘Swapo’s election will never get into trouble,’ said Ulenga, adding that Government is now forced to act due to mounting pressure. Ulenga said many schools, particularly rural ones, have insufficient library, laboratory, and sport facilities, and expressed concern that many of these schools do not stand a chance to become computerised. ‘Government’s mentality is that these things should change in time,’ said Ulenga. ‘Vision 2030 can only happen if we address these issues. But Government’s attitude is that it knows everything.’He said it was the Swapo Party government at independence that decided to do away with pre-primary classes at schools, which the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED) now proposes should be brought back. Ulenga had also questioned Pohamba on developments in the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) investigation, to which Pohamba replied that the investigation could lead to possible prosecution of the individuals involved. Ulenga is of the opinion that Government, with its national intelligence service, has its eyes and ears firmly on the ground and must have known of the shenanigans that had gone on to cause the defaults on repayments of the GIPF millions. He argued that if the security apparatus could have discovered ‘Nyamu notes’ in which Nyamu, then a Swapo member and Minister of Trade and Industry, contemplated the formation of an alternative political organisation, then so could it uncover what happened in the GIPF deals. ‘There is nothing that Swapo is not privy to. The question is why for all this time it did not think it necessary to do anything,’ commented Ulenga. Swanu president Usutuaije Maamberua said he was unhappy with Pohamba’s response to his questions on the ever-escalating crime and corruption, suggesting that the President should make all State resources available to fight these crimes. ‘The honourable thing for him to have done is to acknowledge that the Government has failed in fighting these crimes,’ said Maamberua, adding that Pohamba could have pledged that for his remaining two years in the Presidential seat he would pull out all the stops to arrest the crime situation that is spiralling out of control. All People’s Party (APP) president Ignatius Shixwameni said Pohamba had responded as could be expected from a politician and Head of State. He demanded concrete evidence that Government institutions set up to fight crime would follow up cases of corruption to its final conclusion when the public, as Pohamba had suggested, provide Government with confidential information. ‘He was too vague. He has lost touch,’ said Shixwameni.He said Pohamba should ‘motivate’ corruption fighting institutions – like the Police and the Anti-Corruption Commission – more to fulfil their mandate. He added that Government is not doing enough to crack down on corruption, and should put more mechanisms in place to guard against corrupt practices by those heading Government institutions.