{"id":3774,"date":"2021-10-21T09:45:05","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T09:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray"},"modified":"2021-10-21T11:11:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T11:11:43","slug":"pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray","title":{"rendered":"PDM enters mandatory Covid vaccination fray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Namibia<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>The Popular Democratic Movement has called on Cabinet not to consider introducing mandatory Covid-19 vaccination. \u201cAs the PDM, we have a duty to defend the people of Namibia where their rights are being violated by those in political power,\u201d PDM\u2019s justice shadow minister and parliamentarian Timotheus Shihumbu said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, we have to condemn any moves towards the mandatory vaccinations of the nation. The Constitution of Namibia\u2019s Bill of Rights gives citizens fundamental freedoms which are inviolable, and those freedoms include the choice not to be forcefully vaccinated or subjected to any medical procedure against your will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shihumbu noted that the National Health Act, 2 of 2015, does not give the health minister power to provide health services by force to citizens who do not want it. Therefore, he said, the government must stop forthwith with the ideas of introducing mandatory vaccination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can assure you that the attorney general and minister of justice will open a can of worms and Pandora\u2019s box which will have serious legal ramifications that shall shake the very foundation of our constitutional democracy if they go ahead with mandatory vaccination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Justice minister Yvonne Dausab, during last week\u2019s Covid-19 briefing at State House, hinted government would consider options, including mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 to help the country realise herd immunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the moment, we are looking at all the options, and there has been quite a bit of comparative work done. I am sure the attorney general will provide the advice required to make a determination as to which direction Namibia should take,\u201d she was quoted by The Namibian.<\/p>\n

Shihumbu agrees there is a need to scale up vaccination efforts. \u201cBut as the PDM, we are calling on the government to be creative and persuasive so as not to stoop low and use drastic measures, draconian strategies, scare tactics and actions that will violate the constitutional guarantees of personal freedom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe therefore suggest that the government come up with strategies which will improve the living conditions of the people so that the people will be persuaded and attracted to go for voluntary vaccinations in order to be protected from Covid-19.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, defence minister Frans Kapofi has defended a directive for mandatory vaccination of Namibian Defence Force members, saying it is not a punishment but to look after the welfare of the troops. Soldiers have allegedly started an online petition to stop the mandatory vaccination ordered by the army recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must just accept that is it done for the good of our soldiers \u2013 and there is no need to politicise the matter. I am seeing how people are inciting soldiers to retaliate and defend themselves against their leaders,\u201d he noted while addressing media queries during Friday\u2019s 35th Covid-19 briefing at State House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are those who are petitioning the President, and I believe they are not soldiers but people disguised as soldiers. The life of soldiers is as-is; you believe what you are told by your commander.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. The Popular Democratic Movement has called on Cabinet not to consider introducing mandatory Covid-19 vaccination. \u201cAs the PDM, we have a duty to defend the people of Namibia where their rights are being violated by those in political power,\u201d PDM\u2019s justice shadow minister and parliamentarian Timotheus Shihumbu said in a statement. \u201cTherefore, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[234,236,1685,233,1768],"class_list":["post-3774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-mandatory","tag-namibia","tag-vaccination-fray"],"yoast_head":"\nPDM enters mandatory Covid vaccination fray - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Popular Democratic Movement has called on Cabinet not to consider introducing mandatory Covid-19 vaccination. \u201cAs th ...\" \/>\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\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PDM enters mandatory Covid vaccination fray\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Popular Democratic Movement has called on Cabinet not to consider introducing mandatory Covid-19 vaccination. \u201cAs th ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray\" \/>\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=\"2021-10-21T09:45:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-21T11:11:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/10\/img-61714aca79a39.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"PDM enters mandatory Covid vaccination fray\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-21T09:45:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-21T11:11:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray\"},\"wordCount\":510,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/10\/img-61714aca79a39.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"mandatory\",\"namibia\",\"vaccination fray\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/pdm-enters-mandatory-covid-vaccination-fray\",\"name\":\"PDM enters mandatory Covid vaccination fray - 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