By Helvy Shaanika
ONGWEDIVA – The Congress of Democrats (CoD) president Ben Ulenga’s re-election on Sunday ended on a sour note when some of the former CoD office-bearers said they wanted nothing to do with the party’s leadership.
The resentment arose after Ulenga accepted the nomination and re-election for party presidency in spite of the agreement he allegedly had with some of the leaders not to stand for re-election this year.
Ulenga won with an overwhelming majority of 63 votes out of 135 while Vaino Amuthenu, a former councillor of Oshakati, and now the party’s vice-president, won 39 votes while former secretary general Tsudao Gurirab only received 12 votes.
Natjirikasorua Tjirera, former party spokesperson, allegedly withdrew from the race soon after Ulenga accepted the nomination.
Clementine Masamba was elected secretary general.
Tjirera confirmed he withdrew from the race and wanted nothing to do with the CoD’s leadership.
He was however quick to point out that he had nothing against Ulenga, but that “political dynamics dictate fresh blood,” because the party was not doing well.
According to Tjirera, Ulenga won the election “fair and square” as he is positively associated with the party and positioned himself well among delegates by campaigning for himself prior to the congress.
“He (Ulenga) has done well but this was his time to let go … We discussed the issue with him and he said he was not going to stand but he stood anyway,” said Tjirera.
Tjirera maintained he would continue to be a member of the CoD but following what transpired at the congress, he would “not do anything more than be a voter, I’m not interested in wasting my time”.
“By not standing for other positions within the party, we are giving room for Ben [Ulenga] to get people that are more comfortable to move on with him,” Tjirera added.
Gurirab said he had no intention to stand for any other position apart from that of party president as he was ready to serve the party in that capacity.
“If I were elected to the presidency there would be many things I would do. If we want the party to grow we have to work smartly and I thought I would make a difference. In other positions I won’t add value,” said Gurirab.
Gurirab maintains he has no hard feelings against Ulenga or his fellow delegates for not voting for him for the presidency. According to him, Ulenga must be doing something good and that could be the reason the majority of members voted for him.
Ulenga maintains he was unaware there were members who did not want him to contest the party’s top position.
He claims that he earlier considered stepping down to pave the way for “new blood but other party leaders suggested I should stay as times are tough”.
Ulenga added that he was not aware of Tjirera’s reasons for withdrawing from the race because he (Ulenga) was the one who advised Tjirera to stand for the party’s vice-presidency.
“But he was never in the party’s key position, he used to be the spokesperson for the Young Democrats. He was not an office-bearer, he is an official working for government,” said Uulenga.
Ulenga added that apart from the party presidency he could only remember Gurirab being nominated to the National Executive Committee but he withdrew from the race.
“I only learnt later that he objected when one lady started shouting, objecting to his nomination. I personally did not hear him (Gurirab) objecting, I just heard from the colleagues,” said Ulenga.