There is always a second chance Chris Jacobie Thursday, July 31, 2014 - 08:00 Off the Desk THE proposed amendments to the constitution in the National Assembly do not deserve the political opportunism on display since it became a possibility and known to the public some weeks ago, but only discovered by the less-informed days ago when the original proposals from the Law Reform Commission were also changed considerably. Therefore, it is even more of a pity that instead of parties and leaders giving perspective on some of the changes, they embarked on a road show of self-promotion and, unfortunately, in the process displayed an ignorance that explains the dwindling membership, and leadership infighting across the board. For the sake of fairness one must hasten to add that there is sympathy for some of the observations from opposition parties and leaders, because the temptation of publicity is hard, if not impossible to resist with elections on the doorstep. The constitution, but most importantly the culture of negotiations through give-and-take, played a central role in independence after a protracted liberation and political struggle resulted in the United Nations’ supervised elections. Subsequently, the constitution fulfilled important functions such as: establishing fundamental human rights, the rule of law as well as checks and balances from which national reconciliation, peace and stability flows. In fairness, a few opposition parties and most of the current leadership were not part of the constitutional process and therefore did not realise that the consultations with Prime Minister Dr Hage Geingob on the proposed changes were unique opportunities, not of publicity but of proposing alternatives to strengthen the culture of consultation that Namibia is widely respected for. The facts of the past 24 years of Namibia’s democracy and constitutional amendments are: • Namibia is blessed to still have the original constitutional writers, especially the chairman of the constitutional committee, Dr Hage Geingob, to their disposal as guidance. • The leader of the official opposition in parliament, the Rally for Progress and Democracy (RDP), Mr Hidipo Hamutenya, understands the formation of the constitution better than most; he was, furthermore, the architect of Namibia’s national symbols, the flag, coat of arms and wording of the national anthem, with a strong emphasis of “togetherness in unity” and knows that unity is best achieved by consultation. It will be safe to say that there are more Namibians outside the RDP who respect him as a foremost Namibian, rather than his own leadership that is forever trying to oust him under a camouflage of retirement. • It is remarkable and democratic to the extreme for any ruling party to consult with leaders and parties that might not even have representatives in a next government, while the original one-man parties who were instrumental in the Constitution - such as the NNF, Advocate Rukoro, later Attorney-General of Namibia, the NPF and DCN of the late Mr Moses Katjiuongua, and the FCN with Prof Mburumba Kerina did not make politics of the Constitution that they were writing. • The law commission can only propose, and by pretending that the proposal was cast in stone implies that to appoint the law reform commission it is above Parliament itself. Were it not for the experience of its constitutional writers being available, a ceiling on the numbers of votes which parties must meet before being considered for a seat in the national assembly might have been accepted by a simple majority. Political parties have the right to influence government policies and it is the reason for their existence. It is therefore astonishing that the one chance which some parties got to not only decide on government policy, but also the fundamental law of the republic was squandered in favour of personal posturing and attention seeking. Hopefully, the debate on the amendments will be the second chance that some opposition parties and their leaders will seize upon to prove to Namibian voters that they have alternatives. Worse than bad government, is bad opposition. Namibia does not need more opposition. It is in need of alternatives. One such alternative to the current state of government affairs is the attempt to strengthen the instruments of administration through constitutional amendments.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 16:33:03 +0000
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