Bill amendments cause chaos in the National Assembly
Several bill amendments caused uproar among members of the National Assembly last week.
During the resumption of the 10th session of parliament, National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) secretary-general Josef Kauandenge said members have disregarded the role played by the National Assembly.
While discussing the Marriage Bill, he said: "This disregard has not started today, it started a long time ago. There have been cases coming from the National Council that were disregarded in this house, where procedures were not followed. Even the last time with the amendments to the Electoral Act. Let us not cry crocodile tears here because we have invested interest in the Marriage Act. Things are coming from the National Council, but you do as you please here and pass bills," he said.
According to him, in the past, the National Council gave a "sound and proper" proposal for the Electoral Act, which, in his view, was disregarded by the majority of the members of the National Assembly.
"We pleaded with [Elma] Dienda to consider the proposal by the National Council, but because there was a majority decision, you just disregarded it. When all the gay bills were brought and rushed to the House, some amendments came from the National Council. There are certain bills that we can agree are rushed through and not discussed by the National Council," he said.
He was referring to two private member’s bills brought by Swapo lawmaker Jerry Ekandjo, which seek to - respectively - define the term ‘spouse’ to mean people of genetically different sex and ban same-sex marriages in the country.
The amendments to the Marriage Act were tabled by home affairs minister Albert Kawana. He seeks to define ‘spouse’ as a person married to someone of the opposite sex. If passed, it would make same-sex marriages in Namibia illegal, including those solemnised abroad.
‘Is it fair?’
Ekandjo highlighted the importance of studying all amendments well in advance before rushing to discuss them and rejecting or passing bills without fully understanding them.
"This bill's amendments were made on 30 July and the amendments by the home affairs ministry were certified on 9 August, meaning the ministry had ample time to go through the amendments. We only received it today - is it fair to us?”
He added: “We didn't even get the chance to interrogate it against the original bill and see whether the amendments were true or not. The amendments cannot just be put on our table, we didn't even have time to check through it".
The reconsideration of the Marriage Bill was postponed to tomorrow for further discussion.
During the resumption of the 10th session of parliament, National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) secretary-general Josef Kauandenge said members have disregarded the role played by the National Assembly.
While discussing the Marriage Bill, he said: "This disregard has not started today, it started a long time ago. There have been cases coming from the National Council that were disregarded in this house, where procedures were not followed. Even the last time with the amendments to the Electoral Act. Let us not cry crocodile tears here because we have invested interest in the Marriage Act. Things are coming from the National Council, but you do as you please here and pass bills," he said.
According to him, in the past, the National Council gave a "sound and proper" proposal for the Electoral Act, which, in his view, was disregarded by the majority of the members of the National Assembly.
"We pleaded with [Elma] Dienda to consider the proposal by the National Council, but because there was a majority decision, you just disregarded it. When all the gay bills were brought and rushed to the House, some amendments came from the National Council. There are certain bills that we can agree are rushed through and not discussed by the National Council," he said.
He was referring to two private member’s bills brought by Swapo lawmaker Jerry Ekandjo, which seek to - respectively - define the term ‘spouse’ to mean people of genetically different sex and ban same-sex marriages in the country.
The amendments to the Marriage Act were tabled by home affairs minister Albert Kawana. He seeks to define ‘spouse’ as a person married to someone of the opposite sex. If passed, it would make same-sex marriages in Namibia illegal, including those solemnised abroad.
‘Is it fair?’
Ekandjo highlighted the importance of studying all amendments well in advance before rushing to discuss them and rejecting or passing bills without fully understanding them.
"This bill's amendments were made on 30 July and the amendments by the home affairs ministry were certified on 9 August, meaning the ministry had ample time to go through the amendments. We only received it today - is it fair to us?”
He added: “We didn't even get the chance to interrogate it against the original bill and see whether the amendments were true or not. The amendments cannot just be put on our table, we didn't even have time to check through it".
The reconsideration of the Marriage Bill was postponed to tomorrow for further discussion.
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