Edward Mumbuu
The two centres of power mantra that dominated the ruling party’s discourse before President Hage Geingob took over as party leader in 2015 has made an unexpected return.
In September this year, Geingob indicated his intention to step down as party leader before the 2024 general elections to allow the incoming Swapo vice president to take charge of the party.
This deal, he said then, was brokered when both the politburo and central committee allowed him to run unopposed at this year’s intra-party elections.
However, earlier this week, Geingob made a shock U-turn, announcing he will stay on as party president until the end of his term.
Swapo vice president (VP) Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s right-hand man, diplomat Kaire Mbuende, has said they are unbothered by Geingob’s decision, announced on Wednesday, not to relinquish power before the 2024 elections.
It is Mbuende’s view that Geingob was duly-elected at the just-ended seventh intra-party congress for five years, making it the president’s prerogative to see through his current
term.
From his vantage point, Geingob’s decision has no bearing on Nandi-Ndaitwah’s popularity, nor will it diminish her chances at the polls in 2024. Mbuende yesterday reacted to Geingob’s announcement that Nandi-Ndaitwah has his full backing for the highest office in the land, while simultaneously reneging on his earlier position to step down as both party and state president to soften his deputy’s landing.
What is clear is that Geingob will now be Swapo president until 2027. He will be 86 when his current term ends. “He [Geingob] was duly-elected for five years. He is under no obligation to hand over power,” Mbuende added. According to the seasoned diplomat-cum-politician, if Geingob is to hand over the party presidency to Nandi-Ndaitwah, there will have to be an extraordinary congress, something that should be avoided at all costs.
Having an extraordinary congress in an election year, he said, could only fuel divisions within Swapo, and therefore be detrimental to the party and candidate’s performance.
“The last congress was not really acrimonious… the position of party president does not have to be debated. I don’t think it is material to discuss the two centres of power. The president is well within his rights to see out his term or retire earlier. Nobody can force him to relinquish power,” Mbuende reasoned, adding that “there are no hard feelings for someone who was elected” from the ‘NNN’ camp.
On Wednesday, Geingob assured Nandi-Ndaitwah that she enjoys his full support as Swapo’s sole presidential candidate, come 2024. This is evidenced by Geingob’s pronouncement before the just-ended ordinary congress that he is committed to working with any of the candidates winning the contested positions.
“That position has not changed… Therefore, there is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that the president is allegedly unhappy about the re-election of comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the vice president of the Swapo Party,” reads a section of his statement.
Geingob also dismissed claims that he is behind dark forces aiming to undermine Nandi-Ndaitwah’s grip on the party through holding an extraordinary congress to elect the Swapo president, just before the 2024 presidential and National Assembly polls.
Responding to New Era yesterday, local pundit Ndumba Kamwanyah had mixed feelings about Geingob’s decision to remain president of Swapo, beyond 2024.
That year, Nandi-Ndaitwah will be Swapo’s poster child as the ruling former liberation organisation will attempt to reclaim its glory days on the ticket of integrity, accountability and anti-corruption.
He said there is a likelihood that Geingob’s announcement that he will not hand over the party’s presidency to his VP is going to be met with resistance by some members, especially those who are feeling that the President has not been supporting Nandi-Ndaitwah like he was supported by Pohamba, better yet, how Pohamba was ushered in by Founding President Sam Nujoma.
“There is already sentiment to the reality that the president did not endorse anyone, which many in the party, especially Nandi-Ndaitwah’s supporters, think was a way of avoiding supporting her. So, with this news that he is going to serve his full term until 2027, I think there is going to be some rebellion against that announcement,” he stated.
“What it means is that we are going to see the divisions within the parties still continue. We don’t know to what extent, but I think this in itself sounds like the last straw for the supporters. In one way or another, we might see them pushing back.”
On the aspect of the two centres of power, Kamwanyah said Geingob was one of the architects of the one centre of power dictum, and hopes Nandi-Ndaitwah’s loyalists will question how the President has changed since he was the beneficiary of the one centre of power move.
“What has changed now? Geingob must be ready to explain to his comrades, and he must also be ready that there is going to be some resistance to his announcement. It is really up to him because it is going to drive the party into deeper division,” said the academic.
He said it will not bode well for 2024 because the party will, after the recent congress, think that it will be focussed on inner unity. But, that kind of approach is not helping in bringing the party together.
– emumbuu@nepc.com.na