2018-07-17Staff Report 2 Kuzeeko Tjitemisa WINDHOEK - The Republican Party (RP) and the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) are the two political parties in Parliament who, for three consecutive years, have failed to submit audited financial reports. In fact, only the ruling party Swapo has accounted for all its parliamentary income during the period under review. This was revealed by Minister of Finance Calle Schlettwein in Parliament last week. RP has one representative, MP Clara //Gowases, in the National Assembly while WRP has two representatives - Salmon Fleermuys and Benson Kaapala. Each party represented in Parliament receives over N$900,000 per seat annually from the national budget in line with the proportional representation. The money from public coffers is paid to them in proportion to the number of seats they have in Parliament. Both parties have failed to account for a combined N$9 million they have received from government for the last three years. Schlettwein revealed this while responding to questions posed to him by Swapo parliamentarian, Hamunyela Hambyuka. Hambyuka wanted to know whether political parties represented in Parliament were complying with the Electoral Act that states that they should submit audited financial reports or statements to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN). Both RP and WRP failed to submit their audited financial reports for the financial years 2014/15, 2015/2016 and 2016/17. All People’s Party (APP) failed to submit audited financial reports for the 2014/15 and 2017/18 financial years and the United People’s Movement (UPM) did not submit financial reports for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years. In addition, the United Democratic Front (UDF), Swanu, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and National Unity Organisation of Namibia (NUDO) all failed to submit financial reports for one financial year. The ruling party Swapo, which has 127 out of the 144 seats in both houses, receiving the biggest chunk of government funds given to each political party for parliamentary representation, has submitted its financial reports for all financial years during the current parliamentary term. According to Section 158 of the Electoral Act (Act No5 of 2015), political parties represented in Parliament are accountable to the public on the management and utilisation of taxpayers’ money they receive as funding from the national budget. Each financial year, all 10 parties represented in Parliament receive funding from the national budget in line with the proportional representation provided for in the constitution. 2018-07-17Staff Report 2
