George Sanzila
National Assembly Speaker Peter Katjavivi has reiterated his call for the parliament of Germany to reciprocate the gesture by its Namibian counterpart to create a German-Namibia Parliamentary Friendship group intended to look at specific issues of mutual interest and concretise parliamentary relations.
Katjavivi made the appeal this week during a reciprocal visit by a German delegation of Members of Parliament (MPs) making up the SADC Parliamentary friendship group, led by MP Michelle Muntefering.
The Namibian parliament has a German-Namibia Friendship group chaired by Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele, while Germany deals with Namibian issues through a multilateral group of SADC countries.
The only African country currently enjoying direct parliamentary relations with Germany is Egypt.
This is after Germany took a political decision to cooperate with countries as blocks to avoid the proliferation of friendship groups.
Katjavivi noted during the talks that Namibia and Germany share special historic ties, and it is thus imperative that the two legislatures form a unique platform to engage exclusively over matters of mutual concern.
“We need to continue to strengthen the excellent bilateral relations existing. The SADC parliamentary friendship group is a good initiative. However, we believe there is a need for a German-Namibia friendship group to look at particular issues of common interest. Namibia and Germany have a special and unique relationship. We have just come back from Germany, and there are a number of issues we have identified that need special attention,” he added.
The Speaker mentioned improving the research function of parliament, digitalisation and other innovations as some of the areas that need special reforms in order to strengthen the operations of the legislature.
“We want to reform our parliament. We want a dedicated team of researchers assisting MPs with research. The German parliament is also well-equipped when it comes to digitalisation and systems on how to petition parliament. We need to improve the whole concept of e-parliament and upgrade our library in order to complement the work of researchers. We would also like parliament to have its own in-house, fully-fledged media department, and be capacitated in these areas and work out a framework on how to manage these kinds of innovations,” appealed Katjavivi.
An all-party delegation of Namibian MPs led by the Speaker recently toured Germany on a week-long study visit that was meant to boost parliament to parliament cooperation, and the operations of the Namibian Parliament through capacity-building.
The study visit included engagements with the President of the German Bundestag Barbel Bas, and was sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
Katjavivi also wants a speedy resolution to the genocide negotiations, adding that it was time for the two countries to find a solution and continue to work together in future.
“We should have the courage to make sure that we find a solution as soon as possible. The German government has not yet communicated its position with regards to concerns raised by the affected communities. Communication will help undo the stalemate, and help us make progress and move forward,” observed the Speaker.
On her part, leader of the German delegation Muntefering noted that although she was in support of the creation of a friendship group between the two parliaments, the SADC Friendship group too attached great importance to working together with the Namibian legislature. She echoed similar sentiments of the need for the two countries to speedily resolve the issue of genocide, and work towards the future.
“We would have loved for the Bundestag to have a Namibian friendship group, but equally, this Southern African group is very committed to work with Namibia. On the issue of genocide, unfortunately we do not have the mandate as a parliamentary group. However, we would also like to see this issue resolved as soon as possible. As a group, we have come to learn the best practices in Namibia. We have a special interest in the green hydrogen project, as you are aware that we are facing a huge energy crisis,” said the German lawmaker.
The delegation furthermore met a group of Namibian MPs who formed part of the delegation that visited Germany recently.