ONGWEDIVA – The Outapi Town Council has condemned the campaign method used by the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP).
RDP distributed hundreds of copies of a summary of its election manifesto at Outapi on Sunday.
Howver the town council was not amused alleging the RDP littered the town with its pamphlets.
The CEO of the Outapi Town Council Ananias Nashilongo said the council has no objection to political parties campaigning, but that the method used by RDP “was improper”.
He stressed there are procedures that political partys need to follow prior the campaigns in town, but stressed that littering is not an option.
“There are procedures to follow. Political parties are supposed to forward applications to the council as it is required by law before they put up posters or have their political rallies,” he said.
Nashilongo said the manner in which the RDP distributed the pamplets is akin to sabotaging his efforts to keep the town clean.
“We are paying contractors to clean the town. This is not the right way to campaign and we are not happy,” said Nashilongo.
He said he had advised the RDP leadership in August of the procedures to be followed, however they had “not been forthcoming”.
He said so far only the DTA and Swapo obtained application forms from the council.
Meanwhile, the RDP deputy secretary of information and publicity, Nghiningiluandubo Kashume, said that referring to the summary of the RDP manifesto as litter is an insult to the integrity and intelligence of the Namibian people and can cause division in the country.
“It is an insult to refer to the summary of our manifesto as litter. That was not useless paper, those are papers with a message intended to influence people that are soliciting support to bring us to power,” said Kashume.
He said the democratic rights Namibia is enjoying today was a collective effort by those who partook in the liberation struggle including those from the opposition, therefore the RDP also has the right to campaign.
Kashume also appealed to the authorities not to put constraints on political campaigns.
He said political parties should be allowed to campaign freely without fear, stressing that the opportunity to campaign will only come after five years again.