KEETMANSHOOP – Swapo Party vice-president and the party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, Dr Hage Geingob, says the proposed constitutional amendments will not give more powers to the president but rather dilute them.
A fired-up and energetic Geingob told a well-attended meeting in the W.K. Rover Hall in Keetmanshoop’s Tseiblaagte suburb that he could not comprehend why opposition parties are now crying foul about constitutional amendments while they were duly consulted about the process that started in 2011 before he was elected Swapo Party vice-president.
On the creation of the vice-president position in government, Geingob said the issue is driven by the necessity for “nation building”.
Geingob had previously assured the nation that successful and thorough consultations were held with different stakeholders and members of the minority parties whose input was incorporated in some of the proposed key amendments. Among those consulted were President Hifikepunye Pohamba, the Swapo Party Caucus, Cabinet, the Speaker, DTA, RDP, RP, Nudo, APP, CoD, Swanu and UDF.
“What we are trying to achieve is to ensure that the executive is representive of the diversity of the country, and in so doing foster a spirit of belonging and nation building,” said Geingob at Friday’s national consultative meeting at Tseiblaagte.
“The meetings that we had with opposition parties were not information-sharing sessions. They were consultative meetings. We did not inform them. We consulted them. Some of the parties even said they were 80 percent owners of the constitution. The constitution provides for how to change it. The opposition fails to tell us which of the changes they are against,” he stated.
Geingob thanked those who elected him as the Swapo Party vice-president, paving the way for him to become the ruling party’s sole presidential candidate in the November elections.
Referring to the ruling party’s successes since independence, Geingob said Swapo has delivered.
“We delivered, delivered and are still delivering,” he said amidst applaud from the euphoric crowd. Geingob said Swapo crossed many rivers to bring peace to the country – “and now we are maintaining that peace. We have succeeded in setting up good governance, we are managing our economy and our banking system is one of the best.”
He added: “The Swapo Party government unlike in some other countries, can borrow money internationally because of its good governance. We can pick and choose, while others cannot.”
Geingob said the ruling party successfully defeated colonisers for Namibia’s independence and the second phase of the struggle is economic emancipation.
“We realise that people cannot eat democracy. They cannot sleep in democracy. They need food, houses, schools, clinics and good roads. When people see light at the end of the tunnel, there is hope and faith. Government must pay attention to the needs of the people. We are doing well, but some people are unhappy about the fact that we are doing well.”
He said there may be disagreements – “but we must move forward in unity. Rumour-mongering will not take us anywhere.”
Geingob rubbished rumours of attempts to assassinate him saying that when you want to kill someone, you simply do not reveal the date of the attack. These rumours are being spread to divide the nation. “We can only deliver if we stand together.”
The Prime Minister also reaffirmed the ruling party’s commitment to zebra-styled government, adding that the party is ready to field an equal number of men and women in the elections.
“Our structures always had balance. Therefore we do not foresee problems with implementing gender balance.” Meanwhile, the chairperson of the national leaders of the //Karas Region, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana at the same occasion praised Geingob for being her mentor over so many years.
“He is my educator, my leader and nothing will come between us. I am what I am today because of Hage Geingob,” said Iivula-Ithana, who added: “We travelled a long journey together and are still travelling together. Dr Geingob is one of Namibia’s leaders who contributed a lot to this country.”
//Karas Regional Governor, Bernardus Swartooi, also praised Geingob for being in the forefront of constitutional democracy.
“Dr Geingob devoted his entire life to Namibia and we all must be thankful to have somebody like Dr Geingob in our country. His life is grounded on constitutional democracy,” Swartbooi stated.