{"id":36063,"date":"2022-12-16T16:28:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T16:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns"},"modified":"2022-12-16T16:37:37","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T16:37:37","slug":"swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns","title":{"rendered":"Swapo\u2019s two centres of power debate returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>The two centres of power mantra that dominated the ruling party\u2019s discourse before President Hage Geingob took over as party leader in 2015 has made an unexpected return.<\/p>\n

In September this year, Geingob indicated his intention to step down as party leader before the 2024 general elections to allow the incoming Swapo vice president to take charge of the party.<\/p>\n

This deal, he said then, was brokered when both the politburo and central committee allowed him to run unopposed at this year\u2019s intra-party elections.<\/p>\n

However, earlier this week, Geingob made a shock U-turn, announcing he will stay on as party president until the end of his term.<\/p>\n

Swapo vice president (VP) Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah\u2019s right-hand man, diplomat Kaire Mbuende, has said they are unbothered by Geingob\u2019s decision, announced on Wednesday, not to relinquish power before the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n

It is Mbuende\u2019s view that Geingob was duly-elected at the just-ended seventh intra-party congress for five years, making it the president\u2019s prerogative to see through his current<\/p>\n

term.<\/p>\n

From his vantage point, Geingob\u2019s decision has no bearing on Nandi-Ndaitwah\u2019s popularity, nor will it diminish her chances at the polls in 2024. Mbuende yesterday reacted to Geingob\u2019s announcement that Nandi-Ndaitwah has his full backing for the highest office in the land, while simultaneously reneging on his earlier position to step down as both party and state president to soften his deputy\u2019s landing.<\/p>\n

What is clear is that Geingob will now be Swapo president until 2027. He will be 86 when his current term ends. \u201cHe [Geingob] was duly-elected for five years. He is under no obligation to hand over power,\u201d Mbuende added. According to the seasoned diplomat-cum-politician, if Geingob is to hand over the party presidency to Nandi-Ndaitwah, there will have to be an extraordinary congress, something that should be avoided at all costs.<\/p>\n

Having an extraordinary congress in an election year, he said, could only fuel divisions within Swapo, and therefore be detrimental to the party and candidate\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last congress was not really acrimonious… the position of party president does not have to be debated. I don\u2019t think it is material to discuss the two centres of power. The president is well within his rights to see out his term or retire earlier. Nobody can force him to relinquish power,\u201d Mbuende reasoned, adding that \u201cthere are no hard feelings for someone who was elected\u201d from the \u2018NNN\u2019 camp.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Geingob assured Nandi-Ndaitwah that she enjoys his full support as Swapo\u2019s sole presidential candidate, come 2024. This is evidenced by Geingob\u2019s pronouncement before the just-ended ordinary congress that he is committed to working with any of the candidates winning the contested positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat position has not changed… Therefore, there is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that the president is allegedly unhappy about the re-election of comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the vice president of the Swapo Party,\u201d reads a section of his statement.<\/p>\n

Geingob also dismissed claims that he is behind dark forces aiming to undermine Nandi-Ndaitwah\u2019s grip on the party through holding an extraordinary congress to elect the Swapo president, just before the 2024 presidential and National Assembly polls.<\/p>\n

Responding to New Era yesterday, local pundit Ndumba Kamwanyah had mixed feelings about Geingob\u2019s decision to remain president of Swapo, beyond 2024.<\/p>\n

That year, Nandi-Ndaitwah will be Swapo\u2019s poster child as the ruling former liberation organisation will attempt to reclaim its glory days on the ticket of integrity, accountability and anti-corruption.<\/p>\n

He said there is a likelihood that Geingob\u2019s announcement that he will not hand over the party\u2019s presidency to his VP is going to be met with resistance by some members, especially those who are feeling that the President has not been supporting Nandi-Ndaitwah like he was supported by Pohamba, better yet, how Pohamba was ushered in by Founding President Sam Nujoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is already sentiment to the reality that the president did not endorse anyone, which many in the party, especially Nandi-Ndaitwah\u2019s supporters, think was a way of avoiding supporting her. So, with this news that he is going to serve his full term until 2027, I think there is going to be some rebellion against that announcement,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it means is that we are going to see the divisions within the parties still continue. We don\u2019t know to what extent, but I think this in itself sounds like the last straw for the supporters. In one way or another, we might see them pushing back.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the aspect of the two centres of power, Kamwanyah said Geingob was one of the architects of the one centre of power dictum, and hopes Nandi-Ndaitwah\u2019s loyalists will question how the President has changed since he was the beneficiary of the one centre of power move.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has changed now? Geingob must be ready to explain to his comrades, and he must also be ready that there is going to be some resistance to his announcement. It is really up to him because it is going to drive the party into deeper division,\u201d said the academic.<\/p>\n

He said it will not bode well for 2024 because the party will, after the recent congress, think that it will be focussed on inner unity. But, that kind of approach is not helping in bringing the party together.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. The two centres of power mantra that dominated the ruling party\u2019s discourse before President Hage Geingob took over as party leader in 2015 has made an unexpected return. In September this year, Geingob indicated his intention to step down as party leader before the 2024 general elections to allow the incoming Swapo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":36062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-36063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nSwapo\u2019s two centres of power debate returns - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The two centres of power mantra that dominated the ruling party\u2019s discourse before President Hage Geingob took over as p ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swapo\u2019s two centres of power debate returns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The two centres of power mantra that dominated the ruling party\u2019s discourse before President Hage Geingob took over as p ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-16T16:28:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-16T16:37:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671195588.55.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"459\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Swapo\u2019s two centres of power debate returns\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-16T16:28:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-16T16:37:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns\"},\"wordCount\":906,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671195588.55.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/swapos-two-centres-of-power-debate-returns\",\"name\":\"Swapo\u2019s two centres of power debate returns - 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