By Kuvee Kangueehi Windhoek Amidst the controversy surrounding the recently concluded Congress of Democrats (CoD) Extraordinary Congress at Keetmanshoop, re-elected party president Ben Ulenga yesterday introduced the new leadership and said they were determined to rebuild the party. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Ulenga said the new leadership was humbled and honoured and ready to start with work immediately. Ulenga said the congress took a resolution that the newly elected secretary general of the party should draw up a plan of action in the next few weeks and present it to the party leadership. He said congress also decided that new regional offices and branches should be set up and others revamped. Ulenga was generally reluctant to speak about the grievances of the delegates that staged a walkout and noted that Ignatius Shixwameni made a few allegations involving name-calling and manipulation of the congress. Ulenga said Shixwameni on behalf of the delegates who walked out said that they remained members of the CoD but had not wanted to continue with the congress further – and he (Ulenga) took his word for it. Ulenga said he was surprised by the action of the delegates who walked out of congress because prior to that there were no serious complaints regarding the congress. He noted that the only two issues that were raised were about delegates from the Khomas Region and Oshikoto North, which issues were resolved amicably. He added that in fact the people that organized the congress were the ones who left. “The congress was organized by the office of the secretary general, so could I have possibly manoeuvred the congress?” Ulenga refuted allegations that he bussed in school children from the north-central regions and said the list of the delegates who came to the congress was drawn up by the office of the secretary general. The delegates from the north-central regions, he charged, were badly treated. There was no food and accommodation for them despite the fact that the delegates from other regions were provided for. “I think what disappointed them is maybe that they did not expect the outcome of the elections.” He added that the seats of the parliamentary members who walked out of the congress are safe for now. Ulenga noted that it was clear that the squabbles about the party prior to the extraordinary congress, that were reported in the media, were not only about personalities but bordered on political differences. Political differences are normal in political parties but not to the extent that party members would take such an extreme step of leaving congress, he said. CoD MP and National Chairperson Tsudao Gurirab said the walkout was not spontaneous but pre-planned. He said even after the delegates walked out of the congress, there was still a quorum because more than 50 percent of the delegates remained. “There were still 168 delegates inside the hall out of the 310 that were present at the beginning.” Gurirab added that some of the delegates that left the congress had indicated that they would come back to the party. The new leadership consists of Alfred Shilinda as vice-president, Rosa Namises as secretary general, Inocencia Mokhomele as deputy SG and Ben Kapi as treasurer-general.