‘Behaviour’ workshop planned for Swapo MPs

If Swapo Party chief whip Hamunyera Hambyuka gets his way, all ruling party lawmakers will have to attend a ‘compulsory induction workshop’ to address the recent spate of clashes between party members in parliament.

He is not impressed with the altercations amongst Swapo lawmakers in parliament of late, a worrying trend which he said should be addressed without delay.

“These clashes are a worrying thing. My office is planning to host an induction workshop for our members once we go on recess later this month to iron out these issues, because it does not give a good image of the party,” a concerned Hambyuka told Namibian Sun yesterday.

He added: “We cannot have a situation where a colleague is talking and others are shouting. We will address this soon.”

The chief whip is also unhappy that lawmakers from the ruling party are deviating from the Swapo caucus’ old tradition where members inform the chief whip’s office about any plans to table motions or ask questions in parliament.

This was ordinarily done to ensure that all lawmakers toe the line and to ensure that members do not contradict each other during discussions in parliament.

Muzzling?

While Swapo has always been a proponent of freedom of expression for all Namibians, its lawmakers have seemingly been exempted from this rule in recent times.

Swapo member of parliament Tjekero Tweya learnt the hard way last month when he raised concerns in the National Assembly on the alleged secretive nature in which the green hydrogen project is being handled.

Tweya, who chairs the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources, said his committee – which oversees the management of natural resources - is largely in the dark about green hydrogen because the N$192 billion deal falls under State House instead of the ministry of mines and energy, over which the committee has oversight.

He revealed that his committee has found it difficult to acquire information on the project.

Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa then hushed Tweya, adding that he had said “too much” about the Office of the President and State House.

“I just rise to make a point of order to my very own member of the house and I am sorry to do so. You are deeply mentioning the Office of the President and State House and I am afraid that you are getting too much and I want you to end [it] there and then we consult further,” she told Tweya, much to the surprise of lawmakers who attended the session and members of the public who were following proceedings online.

At it again

A few days ago, Shaningwa was at it again - this time targeting home affairs and immigration minister Albert Kawana.

According to her, Kawana was taking his time to abide by the party’s central committee directive to amend the definition of ‘spouse’ in the Immigration Control Act, and by doing so excluding gay marriage partners from being recognised as spouses.

The central committee at its last meeting instructed “its government to enforce all laws in force that are aimed at preventing and combatting such acts”.

“Why did you give the public notice on this immoral matter which the population rejects? Yet there are so many cases the ministry lost in the courts, but [you] never gave such public notices?” Shaningwa questioned Kawana in parliament last Thursday.

Other incidents

In 2021, former Cabinet minister Jerry Ekandjo openly accused National Assembly Speaker Peter Katjavivi of being biased towards him.

Last month, Ekandjo had his knives out for Katjavivi again - this time accusing the Speaker of removing a notice of motion he [Ekandjo] intended to bring to the National Assembly from the schedule without his consent. Katjavivi denied this.

There was also an incident in 2018 when debate on the formalisation of the informal sector sparked a war of words between former poverty eradication minister Zephania Kameeta and then public enterprises deputy minister Veikko Nekundi.

Kameeta castigated Nekundi for criticising local authority councillors for poor service delivery during his contribution to the debate, claiming the deputy minister was embarrassing government.

Nekundi said local authorities should be blamed for not making land available to cater for the informal sector, especially vendors who sell their products at crowded spaces.

At the time, Kameeta went on to suggest that Swapo parliamentarians should first discuss issues of concern in a caucus at party level before speaking out in the National Assembly.

Disunity

Meanwhile, political analyst Dr Ndumba Kamwanyah described the confrontation between Swapo members as “an expression of disunity”.

“From what we know about Swapo, they tend to not confront each other in public. This [the clashes] is a new development that we are seeing. There are a number of things we can attribute it to, but it is mainly an extension of disagreements on various issues that the party wants to push,” he said.

With President Hage Geingob on several occasions accusing Swapo lawmakers of doing little to defend the party in parliament, Kamwanyah suspects the recent clashes could be a response to Geingob’s urge for them to defend the party.

“Swapo as a party feels threatened because it does not have the dominance it once enjoyed. The landscape has changed and this has pushed the party to desperate levels,” he said.