Is The Pohamba Campaign Paid For By The Taxpayers?

IN the interests of a fair playing field for parties in the coming elections scheduled for late in the year, it is important that we once again reiterate that the ruling party, Swapo, should not abuse State resources and time for party political campaigning.

We recall that in the last national elections this issue was on the agenda. At the time, questions were raised about the use of the Falcon jet for Swapo political campaigning. Also at the time we were assured that Swapo would be paying for the use of the State facilities, such as the presidential aircraft, but the matter has never been satisfactorily concluded to determine whether or not, in fact, such payment was made.Whatever the outcome of this, it seems that lessons have not been learned and that the head of state, President Hifikepunye Pohamba, himself a self-professed staunch opponent of corruption, is now guilty of the same offence of using State resources to campaign for the ruling party.This week the President has been on a five-day tour of various areas in the country – from addressing a Swapo rally at Rehoboth, to opening Swapo regional headquarters at Mariental, to visiting Aranos and Leonardville for Swapo meetings, to open a regional labour office at Gobabis, as well as other activities. As can be seen from the itinerary, it is something of a mixed bag of ‘official’ and party business, with the latter dominant.President Pohamba arrived in Mariental via helicopter, and presumably used the same mode of transport for the duration of the five days, and the question must again be asked as to whether Swapo is footing the bill for these costs?All political parties with seats in Parliament are given budgetary allocations in accordance with the size of their representation and it is no secret that Swapo, because of its dominance, gets the lion’s share.It hardly seems fair, therefore, that the President, and probably other Government Ministers and officials, use State resources to pursue party-political activities, while other parties have to make do with own resources to go on the campaign trail.In short, the trip of the President this week in this regard, is highly questionable, and it is important that State House address these concerns about the abuse of State resources.It is not only the matter of State transportation, but also the time of officials in the President’s entourage who travel with him, and of course, those officials who receive him in the various towns, also for Swapo business. It is of course, also not known, yet an interesting question to pose, as to whether S&T allowances are part of the deal for those accompanying him.It is incumbent therefore, on none other than the President himself, to come out clean and clear on these concerns and inform the people of this country if indeed the fears about abuse of State resources are well-founded.That State transport and time has been used to ferry the President to the various Swapo rallies and functions is not in doubt. What State House needs to tell us unequivocally is why President Pohamba, who campaigns around issues of corruption and tribalism among others, should himself so lack judgement in this regard.While it is so that the ruling party Swapo is the Government of the day, this nevertheless does not entitle the Party or any of its members in Government, to use Government resources for political party business. A line needs to be drawn in this regard, and it needs to be done soon. If not, it will help cast doubt on the fairness of the election scheduled for later in the year.How fair can the process be if the ruling party, already the dominant political group in the country, is allowed to freely make use of State money, time and resources, in addition to their already generous ‘allowance’ as the majority party, to campaign at taxpayers’ expense?We need to hear from the President as a matter of urgency given his stated commitment to fighting corruption and we challenge him to clarify this issue once and for all.