That is so because it brought about some changes within the political landscape of this country. It was also because for the first time in the history of this country, the ruling Swapo Party changed its constitution to ensure 50/50 gender representation in Parliament by its members.
As a result of those elections, there were high expectations and euphoria after the ruling party and its presidential candidate, Dr Hage Geingob, was overwhelmingly voted to power.
Because of the high expectations and euphoria, the waiting period for the inauguration of the President and announcement of the Cabinet was too long as people were keen to know those who would be at the steering wheel of the sixth government as we navigate through the five years of a constitutional mandate. However, the President-elect then, was considerate enough. In the process, he convened three media conferences to unpack his agenda.
At the first conference, he revealed the names of additional eight members to parliament per virtue of the constitution.
During the second conference he announced the Vice-President, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Finally, he announced during the third conference who the ministers and deputy ministers were. That was indeed a systematic move and the best way of informing the general public during the waiting period.
The media conferences were followed by swearing in members of parliament and appointments of ministers and deputy ministers. As expected, the appointments of ministers and deputy ministers had drawn some ambivalent reactions. There were views that the appointments were fair enough. There were those who thought that the Cabinet was top-heavy, bloated, duplicating in responsibilities, tribal and gender imbalanced. There was also a concern of too many young politicians getting into the political mainstream at the expense of the old guard.
In reaction to some of those views, the President-elect then was very clear that there are two separate structures. First, there was a Swapo constitutional factor of 50/50 gender representation to parliament which was executed by Swapo Party 100% during the November elections. Second, the supreme law of the land is silent on the political parties’ representation to parliament. This means when forming a government, the President is not obliged by the party constitution. He was rather guided by the philosophy of effective and efficient service delivery.
Based on this philosophy, the President-elect demanded CVs from the Swapo Party members-elect. The CVs were the tools to measure the academic qualifications and capabilities that were required when appointing ministers and deputy ministers.
In the process, whether by design or default, the top four was 50/50 gender balanced. On the other hand, the Cabinet is made up of 24 members of whom seven are women. The deputy ministers are 32 in total of whom 15 are women which is close to 50/50 gender balance. In my view, these appointments are therefore done not based on tribal and gender balancing. Rather, on the philosophy of effective and efficiency service delivery.
In the final analysis, it may be too early to judge whether the top-heavy and bloated structure will deliver the desired perennial end-state. But time will be the best judge. On what is seen to be duplication, it is ideal to wait until the individual terms of reference are out. On the demand for tribal and gender balancing, I for one do not favour tribal and gender balancing at the expense of effective and efficient service delivery. On age, that question does not hold water. At the time when our current President led the Constituent Assembly drafting the constitution, he was just 47 and turned 48 after he was already appointed as the first Prime Minister.
The question is, was he young or old? The bottom line is the supreme law of the land, Chapter 5, Article 28 (3) stipulates that “every citizen of Namibia…over the age of thirty five (35) shall be eligible for election as President”. I wonder whether there is someone in the National Assembly who is under age. It is therefore, my conviction that as long as there are some old brooms who know all the corners assisted by new brooms who can sweep cleanly, the combination will deliver the required services to the needy people.