President has lost his cool: RDP

THE Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) claims President Hifikepunye Pohamba has lost his cool since taking full control of the ruling Swapo party.

In a statement issued yesterday, the RDP said Pohamba was normally a “decent and honourable person” but he had already started to “regurgitate the falsehoods long peddled by his godfather” and former President Sam Nujoma. The new party was reacting to last weekend’s statement by Pohamba in which the media quoted him as saying that people who have resigned from Swapo were “prophets of doom”.Pohamba said such people did not say anything while in Swapo and only lambasted the party when they left.The RDP was established after former Cabinet Ministers Hidipo Hamutenya and Jesaya Nyamu left the ruling party recently.The President also claimed that the RDP members went around in the North telling others that they were not wanted in Swapo because they were of a certain tribe.The RDP said there was no proof that its members had expressed the desire to create a tribal-based Government in Namibia.Thus, they said, Pohamba’s statements were unfounded and “indeed a pity” since he was normally a cool-headed person.”To accuse those who were targeted and falsely vilified by Sam Nujoma of being agents of imperialism and enemies of the nation is the height of hypocrisy.Mr Pohamba knows fully well that he has admitted in private conversations with numerous people that there has been widespread and tribally motivated victimisation of most of the people who left Swapo recently,” the RDP said.They said it was ludicrous for Pohamba to claim that the issues central to the division within Swapo were not discussed in the party.”He knows better than anyone else that the issue of division was always a hot debate for the last four years or so at every Politburo and Central Committee meeting.And those who have left the party were the most outspoken during those meetings.He should thus not fool the public by telling the people blatant untruths,” the RDP said.The newly established party said there was no denial that the Swapo Government had made some noticeable achievements in the economic, political and social spheres during the first 10 years after Independence.”But when Sam Nujoma became obsessed with power and consequently consumed by his hate and slanderous campaigns against those he perceived as constituting a stumbling block to his autocratic leadership style, the country’s economic development agenda fell to the bottom of the list of the nation’s priorities.”Instead, the politics of witch-hunting and character assassination assumed ascendance.Incompetence became rampant, corruption pervasive and corrupt officials continued their activities without fear of any punishment.”The party said the political arena should be a battle of ideas and not a platform for slander.The two parties go head-to-head tomorrow when both are expected to hold rallies in the North.The new party was reacting to last weekend’s statement by Pohamba in which the media quoted him as saying that people who have resigned from Swapo were “prophets of doom”.Pohamba said such people did not say anything while in Swapo and only lambasted the party when they left.The RDP was established after former Cabinet Ministers Hidipo Hamutenya and Jesaya Nyamu left the ruling party recently.The President also claimed that the RDP members went around in the North telling others that they were not wanted in Swapo because they were of a certain tribe.The RDP said there was no proof that its members had expressed the desire to create a tribal-based Government in Namibia.Thus, they said, Pohamba’s statements were unfounded and “indeed a pity” since he was normally a cool-headed person.”To accuse those who were targeted and falsely vilified by Sam Nujoma of being agents of imperialism and enemies of the nation is the height of hypocrisy.Mr Pohamba knows fully well that he has admitted in private conversations with numerous people that there has been widespread and tribally motivated victimisation of most of the people who left Swapo recently,” the RDP said.They said it was ludicrous for Pohamba to claim that the issues central to the division within Swapo were not discussed in the party.”He knows better than anyone else that the issue of division was always a hot debate for the last four years or so at every Politburo and Central Committee meeting.And those who have left the party were the most outspoken during those meetings.He should thus not fool the public by telling the people blatant untruths,” the RDP said.The newly established party said there was no denial that the Swapo Government had made some noticeable achievements in the economic, political and social spheres during the first 10 years after Independence.”But when Sam Nujoma became obsessed with power and consequently consumed by his hate and slanderous campaigns against those he perceived as constituting a stumbling block to his autocratic leadership style, the country’s economic development agenda fell to the bottom of the list of the nation’s priorities.”Instead, the politics of witch-hunting and character assassination assumed ascendance.Incompetence became rampant, corruption pervasive and corrupt officials continued their activities without fear of any punishment.”The party said the political arena should be a battle of ideas and not a platform for slander.The two parties go head-to-head tomorrow when both are expected to hold rallies in the North.