WINDHOEK – President Hage Geingob underscored his policy of inclusivity when he ordered Swapo secretary general Nangolo Mbumba to facilitate that Marina Kandumbu be sworn in to the National Assembly.
Geingob’s directive came after Swapo Party removed Kandumbu from its parliamentary list.
Describing the situation as a “dilemma,” the President, who is also the vice-president of the ruling party, told Mbumba last week that Kandumbu’s exclusion from the National Assembly would not bode well for the party’s policy of inclusivity.
“Furthermore, we have a dilemma regarding the Kavango West Region. At the moment there is no comrade from that region in Cabinet and given the incident of Comrade Kandumbu, it will not bode well for our policy of inclusivity,” said Geingob in his letter dated March 24, 2015.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Mbumba said: “It is still within the party to decide and we cannot make individual decisions. So when we sit down we will make a final and complete decision.”
Geingob suggested to Mbumba that Kandumbu be sworn in unless she has been found guilty and not given an option to pay a fine, but in her case she was given the option of a fine which she is currently paying off in fixed installments of N$3 000.
On November 11 2014 she was found guilty on 55 counts by magistrate Helen Olayia in the Rundu Magistrate’s Court and fined N$100 000 or five years’ imprisonment of which N$90 000 or four years were suspended on condition she repays N$87 887 of the subsidy she received in 31 instalments each of N$3 000 from November 27 2014, according to court documents.
“I refer to the letter from comrade Kandumbu dated March 17, 2015, regarding the issue of her removal from the Swapo Party list. As you can see from the letter, the points raised are fact based and valid. In hindsight one can assume that such issues should have been considered in making the final decision,” pointed out Geingob.
Although Mbumba said Kandumbu was not removed from the party’s list, National Assembly Speaker Professor Peter Katjavivi on Monday told the media that Kandumbu was not on Swapo’s list submitted to parliament.
The letter sent to Mbumba was copied to Swapo president Hifikepunye Pohamba, Mbumba, deputy secretary general Laura McLeod-Katjirua and Kavango West Swapo Party regional coordinator David Hamutenya.
Kandumbu is currently sitting at home without an income after having resigned from her job at the Kavango regional education directorate in anticipation of her entry into parliament.
Swapo got 77 seats in the National Assembly polls. Kandumbu was at position 70 on Swapo’s list.
Last month Mbumba wrote to Kandumbu: “The position of the leadership of Swapo Party wants you to consider voluntarily withdrawing from the parliament list due to the nature of your case. The leadership of the party shall withdraw you from the list should you fail to do it yourself.”
Mbumba rounded off the letter, which was seen by New Era, saying the decision is not his alone but that of the entire top four of the Swapo leadership.
There was even talk that the some of the Swapo leaders approached the Ministry of Education to facilitate Kandumbu’s reinstatement as chief education planner at the education directorate in Kavango.
Swapo decided to prevent her from going to parliament despite the Namibian Constitution clearly stating: ‘No persons may become members of the National Assembly if they: (a) have at any time after independence been convicted of any offence in Namibia, or outside Namibia, and for which they have been sentenced to death or to imprisonment of more than 12 months without the option of a fine, unless they have received a free pardon or unless such imprisonment has expired at least 10 years before the date of their election.”