NEW wine in old skins. Retaining strategy. Just a reshuffle and not a new Cabinet. Filling of vacancies. Playing it safe. A total cop-out on a promise that it will not be business as usual.
These are all reactions to President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s decision to keep 14 of his ministers in the same position while another five have been transferred to new positions.That left space for only five new ministers – and they were all previously deputy ministers.Institute for Public Policy Research director Graham Hopwood added that the new Cabinet reflects Pohamba’s cautious and risk-averse approach to governing. ‘By keeping everybody on board, Pohamba is seeking to keep the peace within Swapo,’ said Hopwood.That view was also expressed by DTA president Katuutire Kaura who said Pohamba opted to keep harmony in Swapo and it was wise to keep the ‘reliable old guard’ within the executive.According to Hopwood no one can be particularly unhappy with the President’s selection.He found no real indication that the appointments were based on performance over the last five years.By keeping mostly the same team Pohamba acknowledged that Cabinet had been successful and therefore there was no need to make changes, Hopwood said.Political commentator Phanuel Kaapama from Unam said the new Cabinet was nothing more than the President filling vacancies left by ministers who retired and those who failed to make it on the party list to the National Assembly.’It’s a retaining strategy. He hardly moved from the group of ministers he picked five years ago and the notion then was that he did not appoint his own people,’ said outgoing DTA MP McHenry Venaani.Kaapama said the most noteworthy appointment was that of Abraham Iyambo who became Minister of Education after being at the helm of the Fisheries Ministry for 13 years.Kaapama said Iyambo had proven himself to be able to fix things, adding that education had proven to be a troublesome ministry.However, he said Iyambo’s success at education depended on who would be appointed as the new Permanent Secretary after Vitalis Ankama retired.Venaani said the appointment of Utoni Nujoma as Foreign Affairs Minister could not be seen as innocent.’It puts him right at the door of Swapo presidency. He made a meteoric rise and it has put him in the race for the country’s presidency,’ Venaani said.Hopwood agreed that Nujoma’s promotion would boost his presidential ambitions, since his name has been mentioned as a successor to Pohamba for some time now.Venaani described Nujoma as a hardliner and expressed the hope that, due to the sensitivity and scope of the position, he would start compromising on some of his stances.The executive director of the National Society for Human Rights, Phil ya Nangoloh, said Pohamba’s Cabinet was ‘new wine in an old wineskin’ intended to avoid further divisions within the ruling Swapo Party.’This was more rather than less a Cabinet reshuffle. The more things looked different, the more they looked the same as key ministries are controlled by the Omusati clique. I see (former President Sam) Nujoma’s influence and hand becoming even more pronounced there,’ ya Nangoloh said.He said Pohamba got his way with, among others, the Defence Ministry, Environment as well as Home Affairs Ministry but the others were mostly a filling of vacant posts, such as Gender and Veterans’ Affairs.Community activist and trustee of Citizens for an Accountable and Transparent Society (CATS), Carola Engelbrecht, also said the reappointment of most of the previous ministers and Prime Minister Nahas Angula may suggest that Pohamba opted for continuity.If that was the case, she said, how come Pohamba moved two ‘exceptionally well-performing Ministers’ – Abraham Iyambo from Fisheries and Nickey Iyam-bo from Safety and Security – away from their respective portfolios.’Why are the President, the Prime Minister and other less successful Ministers given the opportunity to try and improve on their failures while the successful ones have to start from scratch somewhere else?’ she asked.Prime Minister Nahas Angula said he needed another five years to complete what he had started.’If a Prime Minister has not achieved anything noteworthy in the past five years, what has changed to enable him to achieve it in the next five years? Former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila managed to leave behind a legacy of change and commitment within less than five years,’ Engelbrecht said.Analysts have described the appointment of Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku as a balancing act by Pohamba.’Between him and Prime Minister Angula it is just a demographic combination. Pohamba did not want to dump the Kavango and Ndonga blocks. That was more the consideration rather than their performance over the past five years,’ one said.Venaani said the Prime Minister had shown in the past that he could afford to live in the shadow of the President.’Pohamba shone more than Angula and was seen as being more powerful in many respects. Because of Angula’s willingness not to take the shine off Pohamba he was rewarded for another five years. With Hausiku Pohamba gave power to where the votes come from (Kavango),’ he said.He said Pohamba’s decision not to move Trade Minister Hage Geingob was wise since he only had two years in the position.However, he wanted to see more energy pumped into several ministries such as the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.Pohamba appointed 12 new deputy ministers, of which eight are new to Parliament. That was the only sign of fresh blood in the announcement, analysts said.Hopwood cautioned that being a Deputy Minister was never an automatic ticket to full Cabinet status in the past.He pointed to Bernhardt Esau who finally made it to be a Minister – of Fisheries – after serving 11 years as a Deputy Minister.Kazenambo Kazenambo, however, made a quick progression and Venaani described him as ‘a doer’ who will move things forward at the Ministry of Youth.Venaani felt Pohamba had shunned the Swapo Party Youth League by not including their favourites such as Paulus Kapia and Piet van der Walt in the Cabinet.’He sent a clear message that if you don’t respect his authority, he will do things his way,’ Venaani said.However, a Swapo insider said Pohamba had given Kapia a chance and cannot do the same with his current ‘baggage’.The Avid Investment and Social Security Commission N$30 million case is still hovering over his head.Some saw Pohamba’s passing over of Van der Walt as surprising, given that Swapo went the extra mile during the November election campaign to woo Afrikaners.’He is the first Afrikaner to be voted into such a top structure of the party and to score very well but he was ignored for some reason,’ one Swapo member said.Top SPYL leaders were reportedly pleased with their representation as secretary for international affairs Peya Mushelenga was promoted and so was their former leaders Tommy Nambahu, Uahekua Herunga and Kazenambo Kazenambo.Former SPYL deputy secretary Lempy Lucas was also moved to the key Defence Ministry.
