…. says newly appointed acting SG
WINDHOEK – Job Muniaro, whose name is not that publicly well known for trade union activism, says there is no reason why the public should doubt his ability to steer the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) out of the cloud of negative publicity. Muniaro has just been confirmed as the acting secretary general of NUNW, the affiliated umbrella union for the larger Namibian workforce, at a time when the union is facing threats from the non-affiliated Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA), not to mention unhappiness among the general membership.
“I have been selected by the workers to represent their interest, so I do not understand why some individuals out there doubt my credibility,” stressed Muniaro while painstakingly emphasising that his goal as acting secretary general is to promote the interest of the workers, and regulate relations between workers and employers.
Concerning the NUNW members joining the rival TUCNA, Muniaro said: “TUCNA is a union formed in accordance with the country’s regulations, so why should it worry me, they are also representing the interests of workers.”
“I am not new to the federation, I have been deputy secretary general [of NUNW] all along, I am not learning anything new here, I am just continuing what I have been doing. I have been here for more than a year,” said the 47-year-old Muniaro in an exclusive interview with New Era yesterday. He said the workers have entrusted him to unite and take the federation to greater heights and he “will continue to do so”. The only way he can accomplish that mission, he said, is to teach workers that they have democratic rights to exercise and the constitutional right to vote.
With the country’s general elections around the corner Miniaro says the job of the NUNW is to prepare workers to register, and democratically make the right choice through the ballot box.
Muniaro dismissed the assertions of some workers who say NUNW’s credibility is in tatters as the union is becoming more of a political party than a trade union, saying it is not possible to transform the trade union into a political party as it belongs to workers and not to individuals within the union. “This federation belong to workers, whatever transpires here will be handled by workers through the constitutional provision of the federation,“ he said.
By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa