Windhoek
President Hage Geingob has stressed that the country does not have the financial means to construct a state-of-the-art parliament building in the shape of the national plant, the Welwitschia Mirabilis, for N$2.4 billion.
He had rather advised that a cheaper model costing about N$600 million – as per the initial plan – be pursued.
The president also said that he, just like the Affirmative Repositioning movement, is concerned about the cost estimates of the proposed new legislative chambers. He, however, is not opposed to the idea of having a new parliament building altogether.
Geingob made the revelations of his personal take on the issue when he addressed a central committee session of the Swapo Party Elders Council (SPEC) over the weekend.
The head of state was speaking in reference to the ongoing public pressure on the government to abandon plans to construct the new parliament while there are other pressing priorities, such as the prevailing drought, the water crisis attributed to recurrent droughts and monumental proportions of poverty.
“There were drawings of a simple parliament which could accommodate both houses for about N$600 million – we are saying revisit that. Look at that,” Geingob advised.
“Yes, there is a beautiful idea which is apparently a Welwitschia kind of parliament. Yes [it is a] good idea but we do not have the means. So we are saying revisit that,” he instructed those involved in the implementation of the plan that has sparked a public outcry.
Geingob also noted the issues raised by the youth under the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement. They had given government one month to rethink plans of constructing the new parliament.
“Are you against the parliament or are you against the cost? If you are against the cost then we are all together,” Geingob said.
“I raised that issue of how the cost got from N$800 million to N$2 billion. I sent the vice-president [Nickey Iyambo] to interrogate that situation because we are all concerned about the cost but not the principle of a parliament.”
National Assembly Speaker Peter Katjavivi had earlier indicated that the chambers of the National Assembly and National Council would be housed in the Welwitschia’s leaves while the joining middle trunk would be a venue for joint events.
Katjavivi stressed that the National Assembly spends N$4.3 million a year on rental fees for office space in the central business district to accommodate parliamentarians and their support staff, who cannot be housed in the current parliament building, the Tintenpalast.
The need for a new parliament has largely been justified by the fact that the 2014 amendments to the constitution saw the number of parliamentarians in the National Assembly increase to 104 voting members from the previous 72 – including eight presidential appointees. At the same time the number of National Council members rose to 42, from 26 previously.