Govt silence on assassination reports condemned

THE Congress of Democrats has expressed concern about the flippant manner in which Government is responding to reports of assassination attempts against top politicians.CoD leader Ben Ulenga says he is disappointed that the Prime Minister, who acknowledged the reports in Parliament last May and promised to investigate, recently denied any such investigations or such reports.

“The CoD is outraged to see Government chickening out of their admission and responsibility,” Ulenga told a press briefing in Windhoek on Monday. The official opposition party announced resolutions taken at its National Executive Meeting which ended over the weekend, saying the party was concerned about a number of political and socio-economic issues of national importance.The party said Government should play open cards with the Namibian public, especially when the lives of its elected officials could be at stake.Ulenga said Government had treated repeated attempts by the CoD to get answers to the reports of the alleged assassination plots, which were rife a year ago and have never gone away, as if the party were “sucking it out of their thumbs”.The CoD’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is the party’s second highest decision-making body after the Congress.Tomorrow the party plans to celebrate its seventh anniversary with the official inauguration of its new offices in Windhoek.On Monday, Ulenga also announced the resignation of Natji Tjirera, the party’s Secretary General for the youth wing – the Young Democrats.Tjirera caused uproar within the party last year when he criticised the party’s senior leadership and accused them of incompetence.A congress is scheduled to take place within the next three months to elect a new leader for the youth wing.Ulenga said the NEC had acknowledged the hard work done by its Parliamentarians but recognised the need for more grassroots work to be done.The CoD further criticised Government’s handling of discussions about reparations for the Herero and Nama/Damara people, saying the war of resistance was an undeniable fact of history.The CoD said it was in favour of Namibian victims receiving compensation in cash, and rejected the German government’s offer to sponsor development projects.”We appeal to both the Namibian and the German Federal governments to stop playing cat and mouse and to engage the representatives of the affected communities with a view to paying reparations and acceptable, just and fair compensation,” said Ulenga.”It is the CoD leadership’s opinion that compensation cannot be about a few Euros for projects lasting a couple of years.Compensation must be cash aimed at seriously redressing the socio-economic situation of the affected communities for the better, and not piecemeal ‘solutions’ through so-called projects.”The CoD NEC said it was further concerned about the plight of Namibia’s San communities and said Government efforts should go beyond “a mere self-seeking and political PR exercise in this regard.”The CoD leadership said it did not approve of Government’s toleration of the grazing dispute in the Uukwangali traditional area, saying Government had to do more to condemn the illegal occupation.”This tense situation [is] an ethnic time bomb that could easily spark ethnic conflict in our rather peaceful nation,” warned Ulenga.The official opposition party announced resolutions taken at its National Executive Meeting which ended over the weekend, saying the party was concerned about a number of political and socio-economic issues of national importance.The party said Government should play open cards with the Namibian public, especially when the lives of its elected officials could be at stake.Ulenga said Government had treated repeated attempts by the CoD to get answers to the reports of the alleged assassination plots, which were rife a year ago and have never gone away, as if the party were “sucking it out of their thumbs”.The CoD’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is the party’s second highest decision-making body after the Congress.Tomorrow the party plans to celebrate its seventh anniversary with the official inauguration of its new offices in Windhoek.On Monday, Ulenga also announced the resignation of Natji Tjirera, the party’s Secretary General for the youth wing – the Young Democrats.Tjirera caused uproar within the party last year when he criticised the party’s senior leadership and accused them of incompetence.A congress is scheduled to take place within the next three months to elect a new leader for the youth wing.Ulenga said the NEC had acknowledged the hard work done by its Parliamentarians but recognised the need for more grassroots work to be done.The CoD further criticised Government’s handling of discussions about reparations for the Herero and Nama/Damara people, saying the war of resistance was an undeniable fact of history.The CoD said it was in favour of Namibian victims receiving compensation in cash, and rejected the German government’s offer to sponsor development projects.”We appeal to both the Namibian and the German Federal governments to stop playing cat and mouse and to engage the representatives of the affected communities with a view to paying reparations and acceptable, just and fair compensation,” said Ulenga.”It is the CoD leadership’s opinion that compensation cannot be about a few Euros for projects lasting a couple of years.Compensation must be cash aimed at seriously redressing the socio-economic situation of the affected communities for the better, and not piecemeal ‘solutions’ through so-called projects.”The CoD NEC said it was further concerned about the plight of Namibia’s San communities and said Government efforts should go beyond “a mere self-seeking and political PR exercise in this regard.”The CoD leadership said it did not approve of Government’s toleration of the grazing dispute in the Uukwangali traditional area, saying Government had to do more to condemn the illegal occupation.”This tense situation [is] an ethnic time bomb that could easily spark ethnic conflict in our rather peaceful nation,” warned Ulenga.