2006-09-19Staff Report 2 "By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WINDHOEK The United Democratic Front (UDF) Khorixas branch held a meeting at Navare, eight kilometres outside Khorixas, last week where they carried out an in-depth analysis of the political situation prevailing in the country. A statement released by the UDF said a total of 102 prominent party members attended the meeting. The main speaker was UDF president, Chief Justus //Garoeb, who spoke about what the essence of multi-party democracy is. ""Without a strong and vibrant opposition we cannot maintain a stable, corruption-free country where there is good governance,"" Garoeb told party members. Mayor of Khorixas Matheus Tsaeb in his welcoming address said the UDF gained more seats in the 2004 local authority elections and increased its seats in the National Assembly from two to three. Tsaeb encouraged party members to do more to foster greater democracy and good governance during the upcoming general, regional and local authority elections scheduled for 2009/10. The branch meeting approved the proposed plan to introduce a system of executive mayors with the aim of bringing about more efficient and smooth-running local authorities. The UDF said Professor Gerhard TÃÆ'Æ'Æ'ÃÆ''šÃ‚¶temeyer and the recently concluded meeting of the Namibia National Mayors Forum at Ongwediva had discussed the idea of executive mayors extensively. The meeting, however, cautioned that all necessary technical details had to be worked out with regard to the procedures to be followed before the implementation of executive mayors. Tsaeb urged participants to live by example and to pay all their municipal accounts in time in order for development to take place at the town. S.I. !Huise !Gobs, the Councillor for Khorixas constituency, strongly emphasized the need for participatory democracy. ""Without positive and aggressive public participation, we cannot talk about development,"" he urged UDF members." 2006-09-19Staff Report 2
