Despite disorder erupting in the National Assembly chamber on Tuesday, 48 votes from Swapo members were enough to approve the appointment of four Public Service Commission commissioners.
This follows a voting process in which parliamentarians in favour of approving the appointments were mostly Swapo members.
The approved commissioners are Patrick Nandago, Linda Scott, Lidwina Shapwa and Gerson Kamatuka. They have been appointed for a period of five years, with effect from the start of March 2026 to March 2031.
An urgent motion tabled by prime minister Elijah Ngurare on Thursday last week was not concluded after opposition party members walked out, boycotting the voting process as they wanted to make their contributions this Tuesday due to concerns about the nominations. This led to a lack of a quorum in the National Assembly.
The opposition again rejected the process, arguing that due process had not been adhered to, as some of their members wanted to make contributions during a debate on the nominations.
Deputy speaker Phillipus Katamelo presided over the session.
“Speaker, no one voted or abstained, so how are you concluding we voted?” questioned Affirmative Repositioning leader Job Amupanda, who led the disagreements.
In his motivation, Ngurare said: “Let us support the four commissioners in order to complement the others who are already there.”
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