Opposition MPs in NA walk out in a huff

THE two main opposition parties walked out of the National Assembly yesterday afternoon, outraged at continuously being ruled out of order by Deputy Speaker Willem Konjore on a string of questions.

Their boycott eventually led to the adjournment of the House because of the lack of a quorum. Proceedings on Thursday afternoon usually begin with the ruling party responding to questions posed by the opposition.But yesterday Konjore ruled that eight of the 19 questions on the agenda contravened Standing Rules and Orders.He said they had to be rephrased.He first took issue with the CoD’s Tsudao Gurirab.Gurirabs question to the Trade and Industry Minister on SMEs contained “unnecessary information and was of excessive length”, Konjore charged.The DTA’s Phillemon Moongo was next to come under fire.He was told to rephrase two of his questions to the Health Minister on the pension payout system because they contained his own opinion.According to Konjore, this defeated the objective of asking the question.Konjore’s rulings was initially greeted with humour by the opposition, causing much laughter.However, as he continued to hand down one ruling after the other, the mood quickly turned sour.Questions deemed as contravening the rules had been rephrased by the table officers and appeared as such on the agenda.This further irked opposition MPs.Konjore told them they could choose to accept the way their questions had been rewritten in which case they could be posed again, or else they could choose to do so themselves and re-table them before the House.In terms of the Standing Rules and Order, questions put to Ministers may not contain the names of people, a statement which can’t be authenticated, nor arguments, inferences, epithets, hypothetical situations or matters that have already been decided on in the House.The CoD’s Rosa Namises was also sent back to the drawing board to rephrase her questions on the provision of anti-retrovirals because she had allegedly included her opinion.Gurirab was ruled out of order for a second time on questions to the Minister of Higher Education on whether a job summit would be held in Namibia.Konjore said they were posed in such a manner that they attempted to solicit an opinion from the Minister.The last straw for the CoD came when their leader Ben Ulenga was berated for setting a question that was said to contain an inference.The questions related to the relocation of the Omatala Market in Oshakati.The CoD’s Nora Schimming-Chase, Elizabeth Amukugo, Linus Chata, Ignatius Shixwameni, Gurirab and Ulenga then left the House and were followed by the DTA’s Moongo, McHenry Venaani, Barbara Rattay, Alois Gende and Johannes Gaseb.The House continued business without a quorum for at least 20 minutes.Only after Minister of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation Nahas Angula motivated a new bill on research, science and technology did Monitor Action Group MP Kosie Pretorius draw the House’s attention to the lack of a quorum.The bells then rang for five minutes, after which a roll call was taken.The House was then adjourned until Tuesday.In a joint statement later, the CoD and DTA said the rulings infringed on the oversight function of the executive.Acknowledging that the question process was guided by rules, the parties said Konjore’s reasons ranged from “(the) sublime to (the) ridiculous.”The parties alleged that the answers to the questions would have embarrassed the ruling party and that it was part of an election tactic.”If we, as the opposition, can listen to business emanating from the executive, irrespective of its quality, then, as democrats we should not be prevented from exercising our duty,” the statement said.”We were elected by the people and will accept rulings provided it also applies to the quality of contributions from the ruling party.”Proceedings on Thursday afternoon usually begin with the ruling party responding to questions posed by the opposition.But yesterday Konjore ruled that eight of the 19 questions on the agenda contravened Standing Rules and Orders.He said they had to be rephrased.He first took issue with the CoD’s Tsudao Gurirab.Gurirabs question to the Trade and Industry Minister on SMEs contained “unnecessary information and was of excessive length”, Konjore charged.The DTA’s Phillemon Moongo was next to come under fire.He was told to rephrase two of his questions to the Health Minister on the pension payout system because they contained his own opinion.According to Konjore, this defeated the objective of asking the question.Konjore’s rulings was initially greeted with humour by the opposition, causing much laughter.However, as he continued to hand down one ruling after the other, the mood quickly turned sour.Questions deemed as contravening the rules had been rephrased by the table officers and appeared as such on the agenda.This further irked opposition MPs.Konjore told them they could choose to accept the way their questions had been rewritten in which case they could be posed again, or else they could choose to do so themselves and re-table them before the House.In terms of the Standing Rules and Order, questions put to Ministers may not contain the names of people, a statement which can’t be authenticated, nor arguments, inferences, epithets, hypothetical situations or matters that have already been decided on in the House.The CoD’s Rosa Namises was also sent back to the drawing board to rephrase her questions on the provision of anti-retrovirals because she had allegedly included her opinion.Gurirab was ruled out of order for a second time on questions to the Minister of Higher Education on whether a job summit would be held in Namibia.Konjore said they were posed in such a manner that they attempted to solicit an opinion from the Minister.The last straw for the CoD came when their leader Ben Ulenga was berated for setting a question that was said to contain an inference.The questions related to the relocation of the Omatala Market in Oshakati.The CoD’s Nora Schimming-Chase, Elizabeth Amukugo, Linus Chata, Ignatius Shixwameni, Gurirab and Ulenga then left the House and were followed by the DTA’s Moongo, McHenry Venaani, Barbara Rattay, Alois Gende and Johannes Gaseb.The House continued business without a quorum for at least 20 minutes.Only after Minister of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation Nahas Angula motivated a new bill on research, science and technology did Monitor Action Group MP Kosie Pretorius draw the House’s attention to the lack of a quorum.The bells then rang for five minutes, after which a roll call was taken.The House was then adjourned until Tuesday.In a joint statement later, the CoD and DTA said the rulings infringed on the oversight function of the executive.Acknowledging that the question process was guided by rules, the parties said Konjore’s reasons ranged from “(the) sublime to (the) ridiculous.”The parties alleged that the answers to the questions would have embarrassed the ruling party and that it was part of an election tactic.”If we, as the opposition, can listen to business emanating from the executive, irrespective of its quality, then, as democrats we should not be prevented from exercising our duty,” the statement said.”We were elected by the people and will accept rulings provided it also applies to the quality of contributions from the ruling party.”