Political Perspective

AND NOW some of our ‘honourable’ male Members of Parliament are justifying polygamy. In this day and age, imagine! One wonders why the country is wasting resources on fighting the scourge of HIV-AIDS and trying to educate the youth on the dangers of unprotected sex when our leaders are setting such a poor example?

IT was apparently the DTA’s Phillemon Moongo who started the discussion when he maintained that the law of nature dictated that a man could marry two women but that for women to do the same would violate that principle. For once party divisions seemed forgotten as several men in Parliament concurred that customary law in Namibia could allow polygamy.Women MPs (bless their hearts!) vehemently objected with Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana questioning whether equality was possible in such marriages. Lest we jump to the conclusion that all men in Parliament are lecherous rogues, it is probably fair to say that some don’t agree with their colleagues.And while MPs apparently had a great deal of fun with this subject, there is a very serious side to it too, and it does speak to the issue of the anti-AIDS campaign, which is rendered nonsensical if these practices are to be condoned and indeed continued.Already it has been established by the Harare-based Action – a non-governmental organisation – that having multiple sexual partners has become the major driver of new HIV infections and the biggest obstacle in fighting the pandemic in southern Africa. The habit of multiple concurrent partners had become prevalent in the region, they confirmed, and it seems some of our parliamentarians are culprits in this regard. Apart from pushing the spread of HIV-AIDS, it also, as Minister Iivula-Ithana posited, negates the issue of gender equality. While her male counterparts were quick to shout her down and say that equality was possible in polygamous relationships, this is a plainly nonsensical approach.It is quite clear from the discussions that if the male MPs are not prepared to grant their women the same multiplicity of partners that they claim for themselves, that equality in such circumstances is a myth. Not that we really think they believe in it anyway! They undoubtedly simply pay public lip service to equality inasmuch as they do for the anti-AIDS campaigns, but they don’t really mean what they say. Hypocrisy is alive and well and living in the Namibian Parliament.Hopefully we will hear something loud and clear from the anti-HIV-AIDS NGOs on how counter-productive this Parliamentary debate is to their efforts in fighting the pandemic. In Indonesia, the question of polygamy has turned into an election issue and women voters are taking up the cudgel against those politicians who indulge in it. Quite rightly so and more strength to the women who are taking up the campaign against there, both there and everywhere else.And while we’re about it, why don’t our local political parties make their positions clear on this subject? It appears some of the MPs are in agreement, but let’s hear it from the parties themselves. I am certain that for many women in Namibia clarity on this may play a role in their voting patterns.And for me there’s very little difference between polygamy (which allows for more than one wife) and men who mess around with other women without marrying them. It all constitutes discrimination against women. And I am sure this distinction is not lost on the male Parliamentary contingent.In short though, if we encourage this sort of talk then we may as well stop wasting millions on anti-AIDS campaign, and put the money into areas where people are more committed to making a real difference and changing habits which seem to die very hard indeed in Namibia!