Africa-Press – Namibia. CABINET ministers extended their coastal stay with one day after this past weekend’s Independence Day celebrations at Swakopmund.
This was for their weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, which was held at an undisclosed location.
Prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, who is the chairperson of the Cabinet, did not respond to questions sent to her.
Cabinet meetings are normally held outside the capital when national celebrations are hosted outside Windhoek. Political commentator Joseph Diescho questioned why the meeting had to be held at Swakopmund after many of the government executives had already spent more than four days at the holiday town.
“Our leaders in the oversized Cabinet are still harvesting their S&T allowances till Wednesday. Staying in hotels and living on the choicest foods and overseas alcoholic beverages at government cost, thus at the taxpayer’s expense, because they are on government business,” he says. Diescho says Africans (Namibians) are normalising activities that are not tolerated in more enlightened democratic countries.
“We continue to blame apartheid for the very sins we are committing right now. Who has bewitched us not to hear the cries and see the pain and suffering of our people? Some people are definitely more equal than others.
“Until when? When is enough enough? Where is the alternative leadership of Mother Namibia and Grandmother Africa? History has certainly not hurt us enough,” Diescho says. Parliamentary proceedings for Tuesday were called off due to the ministers’ meeting at Swakopmund.
This did not sit well with some opposition party parliamentarians. National Unity Democratic Organisation parliamentarian Joseph Kauandenge described this as “a serious waste of time”.
He asked why the Cabinet cannot meet on its own day without interfering with the parliament.
“There are a host of bills that must be debated, yet here we are wasting the parliament’s time. Again it demonstrates that our legislature is not independent as it should be, because the executive is dominating parliament,” he says.
Former Walvis Bay local authority councillor Gibson Goseb says the meeting is an “unabated continuation of resource wastage”.
“The Cabinet has its well-air-conditioned chambers in Windhoek for their meetings, thus the extension of their stay at the coast comes at an unnecessary cost to the taxpayer. It’s totally misplaced as I’m wondering what exactly is urgent for them to meet over at Swakopmund, and by extension, today’s parliamentary sitting had to be postponed due to the absence of Cabinet ministers,” he says.
Affirmative Repositioning Movement Erongo region leader Knowledge Ipinge says the ministers’ long stay at the coast was good for grassroots advocacy. According to him, it has allowed leaders from the Erongo region the unique opportunity to influence government actions.
“Since my time in office I’ve always been an advocate of inviting the Cabinet to the region to assess the ground and acquaint themselves with first-hand information.
“It was actually a relief for me to, for example, see Dr Kalumbi Shangula, who he took some time out to assess the conditions at the different health facilities within the region and engage the relevant authorities,” Ipinge says.
He attributes ministers’ extended stay to events held in the Erongo region, such as the inauguration of a new Debmarine vessel, the funeral of the late Immanuel Ngatjizeko, and the Swapo Women’s Council’s Central Committee meeting.
Simon Uirab, the director in the office of the speaker of parliament, this week confirmed that the parliament session was postponed, because without the ministers the house would not have formed a quorum.
“This was communicated ahead of time, and it was announced in the house. Parliament resumed business yesterday,” he said.
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