Parliament’s Jamboree

WE CAN have as much pomp and circumstance as we like, but it’s not going to turn our Parliament into something it’s not.

Apparently because this will mark the start of the last session for the members of Namibia’s third Parliament, it warrants a big fanfare. Let’s face it, a modest and cost-effective wake might be more appropriate under the circumstances, for this socalled august body has not really done us proud.SPEAKER Mose Tjitendero may have done a tour of several regions in the country to, in the words of the new publication ‘Parliament Journal’, “take Parliament to the people”, but that certainly hasn’t happened.Both the National Assembly and National Council and their members, are as inaccessible to Namibians as they’ve always been.Unfortunately the Journal is in ‘parliament-speak’, and statements like (the Speaker’s visit) “created broad-based understanding of the roles played by the citizenry in a parliamentary process…” and “enabled the Speaker to interact with the people at grass roots and learn about the situation in each region”.Oh yeah? So what, precisely, we wonder, has he in fact learned? During his visit he also said that our very fortunate electorate not only get to elect their Parliament, but they “can influence the law-making process through lobbying their elected representatives …”Now how precisely do they do that? The Speaker has options for the public though.They can attend and participate in public hearings, and in addition, they can use information technology to visit the Parliamentary website, launched in 2001.Well, I tried the latter, I really did.And apart being a turgid and difficult-to-navigate site (and I’m by no means an IT expert) I couldn’t find any kind of interactivity or opportunity on the website for the public to really have a go.I looked at the calendar.Hopeless task.Absolutely zip for February for our MPs, except they’ll have to turn up on February 17 for the opening of Parliament.March also continually gave me messages saying ‘no events for this date’.Surprise, surprise! Then I thought I’d access a section called ‘FAQ’, frequently asked questions, apparently, hoping to get a glimpse of some interaction between parliament and the people.But no, all I found under this topic was literally, a list of questions like the following: ‘How can I smilie an image?’ and ‘Are cookies used?’. (!!)The Forum section was equally uninspiring, and perhaps due to my lack of computer literacy, I finally threw up my hands in despair and quit the site.My fault maybe for not exercising more patience, but question is how accessible is this then for the majority of our population? If I’d found something like the e-mail addresses of MPs (heaven forbid that they should be ‘on-line’ to the public!) I’d have been delighted, but no such luck.But I suppose we should be thankful that a grant from USAID made the website possible at all! Somewhere, again in the Journal, Speaker Tjitendero makes mention that Namibia was the first country in the southern African region to acquire a full network of computers in 1995, but I cannot recall but a handful of e-mail messages from Government in that time.So what’s up with their system? Can MPs even use e-mail? This is no “new democracy” as the Speaker is quoted as saying on his regional tour.We’ve been at it since 1990 and we surely could have done better with a little more effort all round, especially from our MPs from both houses.Most of the content of the glossy Journal published three times a year, is geared to PR for Parliament and Government and a healthy dose of donations and requests for assistance: Among others: ‘Speaker appeals for assistance from German Parliament ..’ (for money to make the Assembly Hall bigger!!).This, he felt (and don’t scream and fall about when you hear this) would both strengthen and “increase the dimension in participatory democracy by allowing a greater number of people to observe what their elected representatives do”.Then ‘Microsoft pledges computers’.All 4000 of them.Have they arrived and if so where have they been deployed? Another: ‘China donates office equipment’.In short, one million N$ to the National Council for its parliamentary needs.More braais for Kandy? All in all, Parliament hasn’t come close to the people yet, so its really not worth celebrating the fact by spending a whole lot of money on an opening jamboree next Tuesday.Let’s face it, a modest and cost-effective wake might be more appropriate under the circumstances, for this socalled august body has not really done us proud. SPEAKER Mose Tjitendero may have done a tour of several regions in the country to, in the words of the new publication ‘Parliament Journal’, “take Parliament to the people”, but that certainly hasn’t happened. Both the National Assembly and National Council and their members, are as inaccessible to Namibians as they’ve always been. Unfortunately the Journal is in ‘parliament-speak’, and statements like (the Speaker’s visit) “created broad-based understanding of the roles played by the citizenry in a parliamentary process…” and “enabled the Speaker to interact with the people at grass roots and learn about the situation in each region”. Oh yeah? So what, precisely, we wonder, has he in fact learned? During his visit he also said that our very fortunate electorate not only get to elect their Parliament, but they “can influence the law-making process through lobbying their elected representatives …” Now how precisely do they do that? The Speaker has options for the public though. They can attend and participate in public hearings, and in addition, they can use information technology to visit the Parliamentary website, launched in 2001. Well, I tried the latter, I really did. And apart being a turgid and difficult-to-navigate site (and I’m by no means an IT expert) I couldn’t find any kind of interactivity or opportunity on the website for the public to really have a go. I looked at the calendar. Hopeless task. Absolutely zip for February for our MPs, except they’ll have to turn up on February 17 for the opening of Parliament. March also continually gave me messages saying ‘no events for this date’. Surprise, surprise! Then I thought I’d access a section called ‘FAQ’, frequently asked questions, apparently, hoping to get a glimpse of some interaction between parliament and the people. But no, all I found under this topic was literally, a list of questions like the following: ‘How can I smilie an image?’ and ‘Are cookies used?’. (!!) The Forum section was equally uninspiring, and perhaps due to my lack of computer literacy, I finally threw up my hands in despair and quit the site. My fault maybe for not exercising more patience, but question is how accessible is this then for the majority of our population? If I’d found something like the e-mail addresses of MPs (heaven forbid that they should be ‘on-line’ to the public!) I’d have been delighted, but no such luck. But I suppose we should be thankful that a grant from USAID made the website possible at all! Somewhere, again in the Journal, Speaker Tjitendero makes mention that Namibia was the first country in the southern African region to acquire a full network of computers in 1995, but I cannot recall but a handful of e-mail messages from Government in that time. So what’s up with their system? Can MPs even use e-mail? This is no “new democracy” as the Speaker is quoted as saying on his regional tour. We’ve been at it since 1990 and we surely could have done better with a little more effort all round, especially from our MPs from both houses. Most of the content of the glossy Journal published three times a year, is geared to PR for Parliament and Government and a healthy dose of donations and requests for assistance: Among others: ‘Speaker appeals for assistance from German Parliament ..’ (for money to make the Assembly Hall bigger!!). This, he felt (and don’t scream and fall about when you hear this) would both strengthen and “increase the dimension in participatory democracy by allowing a greater number of people to observe what their elected representatives do”. T
hen ‘Microsoft pledges computers’. All 4000 of them. Have they arrived and if so where have they been deployed? Another: ‘China donates office equipment’. In short, one million N$ to the National Council for its parliamentary needs. More braais for Kandy? All in all, Parliament hasn’t come close to the people yet, so its really not worth celebrating the fact by spending a whole lot of money on an opening jamboree next Tuesday.