PDM is out of order – UPM

The United People's Movement (UPM) says an attempt by its alliance partner Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) to stop it from courting other political formations is uncalled for and out of order.

On Monday, PDM wrote to the National Assembly to request the withdrawal of UPM members Jan van Wyk and Frans Bertolini from parliament for publicly endorsing independent presidential candidate Ally Angula - despite being in an alliance with PDM.

In a statement, UPM yesterday said PDM's plan to withdraw the duo is in direct violation of a memorandum of agreement signed on 28 August 2019.

According to the UPM, there is no agreement in place indicating that the party is obliged to support PDM in the upcoming Presidential and National Assembly elections, adding that the agreement was specifically inked for the 2019 and 2020 elections.

UPM insists that no further amendments or agreements were made to support PDM for the upcoming 2024/25 elections.

'Misleading'

National Assembly executive director Lydia Kandetu said UPM has the right to fight the matter in court, but added that the party must understand that PDM has the right to recall members from parliament at any time.

“Parties have the right to recall new members. It is going to happen, but we are looking into it now. It is very straightforward; it’s not the first time members are recalled. If they have problems, they can go to court, but the parties have the right to recall them for any reason,” she said.

Last week, Van Wyk pledged his party’s support for Angula, who insists that she has been told by God to run as president of Namibia.

Hitting back at PDM's letter, UPM acting secretary-general Francis Huish told the Office of the Speaker to ignore the “misleading” request and informed them that UPM will be taking legal action against its alliance partner.

“PDM is out of order and their request to withdraw the honourable members would imply that in no way did UPM contribute to the success of the 2019/2020 elections, although the parties were in an alliance showing their support, canvassing members and mobilising voters for the alliance.

“PDM did not become the official opposition on their own - it was also the contribution of the UPM and its members that made it possible to become the official opposition. By extension, PDM is not on its own in the National Assembly, as the memorandum of agreement is clear on it being a joint party list submitted to the Electoral Commission of Namibia,” he said.

“As it were, if the members feel it fine to withdraw the honourable members, then all the current members of parliament under the PDM and UPM alliance should be withdrawn,” Huish added.

No clause

According to political scientist Ndumba Kamwanyah, based on the agreement, PDM doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

“The agreement seems to speak for 2019 arrangement. It looks like PDM does not have a case here to withdraw the UPM representatives from parliament. There is also a clause that says UPM should retain its identity. What UPM is doing now is retaining its party identity, so it is OK for them to prepare for the next step after the coalition.

“There is no clause that prevents them from preparing and organising as a party for themselves. They are safe to stay in parliament until new members are sworn in. They did not violate anything,” he said.

Behind our back

Meanwhile, PDM secretary-general Manuel Ngaringombe said UPM went behind their back by choosing Angula as its preferred candidate and entering into alliances with other political parties while still being in bed with PDM.

He added that UPM called the PDM leadership to discuss the matter, and made it clear they will not join the PDM fray for the upcoming elections.

“They told us that they have a resolution from their central committee meeting that they will not have an alliance with the PDM any more and in the new elections, they will look for new partners.

“We said it is not a problem as long as we handle this sensitively. It is very clear - they want to work with the other party from Walvis Bay and also support Angula as their presidential choice. The next day, we just saw it in the newspapers and social media that these people are dancing and that they already have another alliance,” he said.

PDM is especially disturbed that UPM went out to seek alliances without being frank about its intentions, Ngaringombe added.

“Another one of our findings is that they already signed a new alliance in December last year and they never told us that. When you do that with your partner, you are not being honest. They have not come to us officially to end this agreement. It took us by surprise. Taking us by surprise is very clear, it is a breach.”

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