Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Affirmative Repositioning (AR) interim leadership has denied that spokesperson Simon Amunime and head of elections Paulus Kathanga have been suspended.
At a media conference held at Walvis Bay on Sunday, AR’s interim chairperson for the Kunene region, Patience Tolu, said the two were relieved of their duties.
“They were not suspended and we have not issued any letters so far to indicate that they were suspended. We only relieved them from the duty of the AR movement so that they can continue with their reports and investigations,” she said.
Yesterday, Amunime and Kathanga claimed that they were suspended from the movement after clashes with AR leader Job Amupanda.
Kathanga said they were shown the door during the Interim National Activists Council meeting, held on Saturday at Walvis Bay.
He said this stems from questions he posed about N$50 000 and a brown envelope allegedly received by Amupanda from individuals and business people as it relates to the movement, during one of the movement’s meetings.
Kathanga said Amupanda reportedly admitted receiving the money in the Saturday meeting.
“We were told to go expose those matters far from the movement and hence our so-called suspension. We have no membership to AR, nor have we subscribed to any constitution or code of conduct. Therefore, it is just some gimmicks because you can’t suspend someone who is not your member,” said Kathanga.
Kathanga claims to have requested AR bank statements from the beginning of 2021 to June 2022 from the head of administration, Vaino Hangula, on several occasions.
He said he is yet to receive these.
He has also requested the payslips of the two deployments of the movement to the City of Windhoek local authority council.
“On both occasions, I was served with financial reports instead of bank statements,” he said.
Amunime said he was invited to the meeting at Walvis Bay, where he was asked to clarify issues and participate in discussions pertaining to the movement.
He said they were chased out of the meeting because they were firm on the matter that Amupanda received a brown envelope containing money that was allegedly not declared to the movement.
“He went to say in that meeting that it was petrol money given to him. It was not a personal meeting. It was a meeting that has to do with the movement, and many other things, as well as the N$50 000 that Amupanda received,” said Amunime.
In the Walvis Bay meeting, the duo say they questioned how the N$50 000 was intended to be used, and in whose account the money was deposited.
“We are demanding the bank statement of the movement, so that we can expose this corruption. They are refusing to give us these things. When they are saying we are suspended, I don’t know if it is the right term but we were chased out of the meeting and from the movement,” said Amunime.
Hangula said the request to furnish the two with the movement’s bank statements would be irresponsible, as the two reportedly did not explain their motives.
“It does not make sense for an individual to be given the bank statement. What is he going to do with it? If you are not satisfied with audited financial reports, what will satisfy you in an actual bank statement?”
Amupanda challenged those who believe there is corruption in the movement to report it to the relevant law enforcement authorities.
“No one should be warning anybody about corruption. You must just go straight to the doors of the Anti-Corruption Commission and report it, so that we are able to engage and deal with those issues,” he said.
Amupanda admitted that the movement received money from people from all walks of live.
He says many people cannot differentiate between what is support, sponsorship and what constitutes a bribe.
“We got support from people to pay for bail, we got support to pay for activists who dropped out of university, we have gotten support to buy electricity, to fill up gas tanks for activists, for activists to get tickets to fly, we got support from various people and we are not ashamed of that,” said Amupanda.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
