A bad time in Namibia's democratic life
Legal instruments already exist in the mouth of the Constitution of the Republic and the Electoral Act that regulate elections. These instruments are in line with recognized international standards. The problem in Namibia is lack of leadership and political will to enforce the precepts of the law. This started majorly in 2017 when the Swapo leadership began to disregard its own laws and the constitution and it is now a standard practice in Swapo to consider the rule of law as either optional or inapplicable to them. And they get away with it. The courts in their current arrangement are Swapo in judges' gowns. Only people's actions can change this.
If the nation was not scared as it is, the people would do what other nations do: put an end to mismanagement and abuse of the rule of law by taking to the streets to demand change. But it seems that things are not bad enough to cause a national outrage, or the opposition voices have been too meek. There is a leadership crisis in the land. Prayer and fasting and prophecies are not working. The country is likely to disintegrate if nothing changes drastically.
I had hoped and prayed that a great part of the opposition's language would have been a demand to amend the constitution in so far as the election of political representatives we glibly call leaders is concerned. The rut sits where so-called leaders are not elected directly by the people. The business of wheelbarrowing and wheelchairing nincompoops into positions of governors and members of parliament and cabinet ministers is where the disease is. Now opposition leaders are copying this diabolical practice by nominating people to go to parliament.
Nobody should go to parliament unless elected directly by the people. Also, the people who become commissioners to manage elections should be given that responsibility by parliament and report to parliament. It is a malpractice that the president appoints them. This is the result of a sick system that generates more maladies.
There is no longer doubt that the 2024 elections were not free, not fair and not transparent. How does a country of 1.4 million registered voters not manage to prepare, process and count the votes in three days? Countries of over 200 million know by the end of the voting day who the winners are. I am almost convinced that these elections were orchestrated to go bad.
On the strength of what we know now, the results of these elections should be accepted as the real voice of the people, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) should be dissolved as a matter of urgency, and a new date must be determined by parliament for fresh elections before March 2025.
This is, unfortunately, the price that must be paid for corruption. The matter should go to parliament as a priority. Otherwise the consequences of accepting what is wrong to be right are too ghastly to contemplate.
*Professor Joseph Diescho is a Namibian academic based in Bonn, Germany.
If the nation was not scared as it is, the people would do what other nations do: put an end to mismanagement and abuse of the rule of law by taking to the streets to demand change. But it seems that things are not bad enough to cause a national outrage, or the opposition voices have been too meek. There is a leadership crisis in the land. Prayer and fasting and prophecies are not working. The country is likely to disintegrate if nothing changes drastically.
I had hoped and prayed that a great part of the opposition's language would have been a demand to amend the constitution in so far as the election of political representatives we glibly call leaders is concerned. The rut sits where so-called leaders are not elected directly by the people. The business of wheelbarrowing and wheelchairing nincompoops into positions of governors and members of parliament and cabinet ministers is where the disease is. Now opposition leaders are copying this diabolical practice by nominating people to go to parliament.
Nobody should go to parliament unless elected directly by the people. Also, the people who become commissioners to manage elections should be given that responsibility by parliament and report to parliament. It is a malpractice that the president appoints them. This is the result of a sick system that generates more maladies.
There is no longer doubt that the 2024 elections were not free, not fair and not transparent. How does a country of 1.4 million registered voters not manage to prepare, process and count the votes in three days? Countries of over 200 million know by the end of the voting day who the winners are. I am almost convinced that these elections were orchestrated to go bad.
On the strength of what we know now, the results of these elections should be accepted as the real voice of the people, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) should be dissolved as a matter of urgency, and a new date must be determined by parliament for fresh elections before March 2025.
This is, unfortunately, the price that must be paid for corruption. The matter should go to parliament as a priority. Otherwise the consequences of accepting what is wrong to be right are too ghastly to contemplate.
*Professor Joseph Diescho is a Namibian academic based in Bonn, Germany.
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