Take our candidate, please!

THE President of the Republican Party (RP), Henk Mudge, has played down claims of internal feuding 10 days ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

On Wednesday, the RP’s regional council candidate for the Otavi constituency and national executive committee member, Jacobus Kamehozu, defected to the DTA. And the party now wants the DTA to take one of its parliamentary candidates, whom it has accused of poor discipline and unruly behaviour.”We have another person for the DTA that they can have and that is Mr Thomas Kahikopo, who is on our [candidate] list for Parliament,” Mudge said.”He will receive a letter from our head office as soon as we track him down.He will be suspended due to unacceptable behaviour and disobedience.”Mudge did not elaborate on Kahikopo’s supposed wrongdoings.Talk is that he disappeared with the party’s vehicles, which they desperately want to recover.Turning to Kamehozu’s resignation and his accusations of alleged racism, Mudge charged that the defector’s move was a result of his apparent financial problems.”Mr Kamehozu never had a problem with the Republican Party, its policies or its way of operation, and never mentioned to me that he was unhappy about the way in which black people are being treated in the party.He has a serious problem and that is money,” charged the RP leader.Kamehozu rejoined the DTA, the party from which the RP split last year, on Wednesday.He claimed the RP made black members campaign on a voluntary basis while their white counterparts were allegedly paid salaries.But Mudge retorted that Kamehozu had become disgruntled after he failed to secure money he demanded from the RP, a day before he rejoined the DTA.Meanwhile, the RP has joined the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) in rejecting a call by other opposition parties to boycott the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation’s Election Forum.”We are on record that we have on several occasions complained about the time allocated to the different political parties …although we are extremely unhappy, it is more important for us as a young party that the nation hears our message of hope,” Mudge stated.He further ruled out any possibility of his party participating in a government of national unity, as advocated in some opposition quarters, after the election.”Namibia does not need a government of national unity, what we need is the appointment of ministers who are capable of doing the job regardless of their parties,” he emphasised.And the party now wants the DTA to take one of its parliamentary candidates, whom it has accused of poor discipline and unruly behaviour.”We have another person for the DTA that they can have and that is Mr Thomas Kahikopo, who is on our [candidate] list for Parliament,” Mudge said.”He will receive a letter from our head office as soon as we track him down.He will be suspended due to unacceptable behaviour and disobedience.”Mudge did not elaborate on Kahikopo’s supposed wrongdoings.Talk is that he disappeared with the party’s vehicles, which they desperately want to recover.Turning to Kamehozu’s resignation and his accusations of alleged racism, Mudge charged that the defector’s move was a result of his apparent financial problems.”Mr Kamehozu never had a problem with the Republican Party, its policies or its way of operation, and never mentioned to me that he was unhappy about the way in which black people are being treated in the party.He has a serious problem and that is money,” charged the RP leader.Kamehozu rejoined the DTA, the party from which the RP split last year, on Wednesday.He claimed the RP made black members campaign on a voluntary basis while their white counterparts were allegedly paid salaries.But Mudge retorted that Kamehozu had become disgruntled after he failed to secure money he demanded from the RP, a day before he rejoined the DTA.Meanwhile, the RP has joined the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) in rejecting a call by other opposition parties to boycott the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation’s Election Forum.”We are on record that we have on several occasions complained about the time allocated to the different political parties …although we are extremely unhappy, it is more important for us as a young party that the nation hears our message of hope,” Mudge stated.He further ruled out any possibility of his party participating in a government of national unity, as advocated in some opposition quarters, after the election.”Namibia does not need a government of national unity, what we need is the appointment of ministers who are capable of doing the job regardless of their parties,” he emphasised.