2014-12-05Mathias Haufiku WINDHOEK - The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) says its dismal performance during last week’s elections was only a “hiccup” and warned those who think the party is heading for extinction to do so at their own peril. “We will not take the path of others because our party will not go into diminishing mode,” party secretary general Mike Kavekotora said. “This was just a hiccup, we will identify the problems we faced during the elections, mitigate the negative aspects and come back stronger. Nobody should write us off because that will be the mistake of the century.” Kavekotora also brushed off rumours that party president Hidipo Hamutenya is in the process of handing over power following the poor performance at the polls. As a result of the dismal display at the polls, the party’s representation in the National Assembly dropped from eight to three seats. RDP only managed to obtain 31 372 of the total 893 643 votes cast in the National Assembly election while Hamutenya ended third in the presidential race, obtaining 30 197 of the 890 738 votes cast. Well-placed sources in the RDP say the veteran party leader Hamutenya will soon step down as party president to focus on his personal life. The sources also indicated that Hamutenya’s dismal performance in the election is the primary reason he is flirting with retirement. “Who said the president is stepping down? I am not aware of that. After our performance during the polls I am not surprised that there are such rumours because people will have their opinions,” said Kavekotora. Hamutenya has been RDP president since the party’s formation in 2007. Kavekotora said the party’s leadership would meet in the near future to conduct a post-election analysis to determine where things went wrong. “This situation needs a holistic approach to determine the internal and external factors that affected our performance and at the same time devise strategies to mitigate these factors,” he said. Asked about the prospects of challenging the election results in court as the party did after the 2009 polls, Kavekotora said the party can only decide whether to go to court or not after conducting a post-election analysis. “When you do not have any information it will be premature to determine any course of action, that is why we need to meet and conduct an election post-mortem so that it can inform us on the way forward because it is not always advisable to jump to conclusions and run to court. Only after the analysis can we come up with an informed and prudent decision. This analysis must take place as soon as possible so that we can have an understanding of what really happened,” he said. “We will remain a Namibian party and find solutions to our problems and move forward as a force to be reckoned with – there is no way we will die. The RDP enjoys support countrywide and sure we will rebound and come back to higher ground,” said a confident Kavekotora. By Mathias Haufiku 2014-12-05Mathias Haufiku
