Members of Parliament have emphasised the importance of fairness in the electoral process while contributing to the motion tabled by NUDO’s MP, Josef Kauandenge.
The debate was regarding discrimination against regional councils, local authority employees, and civil servants who wish to participate freely in parliamentary elections after resigning from their previous services. The Deputy Minister of Works and Transport, Veikko Nekundi, argued that it is unfair to require elected Members of Parliament to resign from their employment before they are officially sworn in as MPs.
“You only become a member when you are sworn in. In terms of 47, there is nothing wrong with that. The 46 is the one that is fundamentally against the principle of our constitution, which says you have the freedom to turn. Therefore, it must be addressed to remove the element of candidature so that you resign before you are sworn in.”
LPM Leader Bernardus Swartbooi expressed his concerns about the absence of constitutional provisions.
“The constitution does not give strong reasons why it chooses to discriminate against these people or what the prejudice is. That would be heard if these individuals happened to have a professional alliance with their job. In this instance, in government institutions, what are the predators that the Constitution wants? Or is attempting to prohibit a person who’s a regional counsellor or a person who’s a teacher from being brought in unless he or she has done certain acts?”
Swartbooi argued that public servants should have the opportunity to serve as MPs, citing their familiarity with the government system and their ability to apply the skills acquired during their previous roles in a beneficial way.
“One would have wanted the constitution to say there is prejudice. Because the constitution starts with a preamble, it says what it wants to achieve. It goes to talk about affirmative action and says we want to go for a plot of action because of past discriminatory laws that have disproportionately affected certain groups in Namibia. Why would a person who has previously worked and understands how the government works not be utilised?.
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