Allexer Namundjembo and Stefanus Nashama
Political parties have rejected proposals to rally behind one presidential candidate who will unseat Swapo.
The proposal comes as the preliminary results from the Special Voting Day show that if put together, the opposition parties’ votes are more than that of Swapo presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
The suggestion to join forces was made by the former United People’s Movement secretary general, Celeste Becker.
“Add all opposition votes, and we will have the lead. This is not all about the opposition presidential candidates, but it is all about the people. We can still be one. Agree already which presidential candidate will support the opposition on the 27th, and all those opposition candidates will be appointed to cabinet,” Becker suggested.
Various political parties reject the proposal.
The president of the Congress of Democracy (CoD), Vaino Amuthenu, said political parties should not unite solely to unseat Swapo.
According to him, they must also align on policies and ideologies.
“We must look at the parties that are of the same ideologies and with the same policies. We don’t want to end up forming up a coalition with parties that do support gays, and same-sex marriage for the sake of unseating Swapo,” Amuthenu said.
He said that if one party promotes ideas that contradict those of another party, the coalition government will struggle to function.
“We will end up having chaos and a country that is on autopilot as parties are aiming differently. Aiming to unseat the Swapo party, or just because you don’t want to be ruled by a lady, doesn’t mean you are capable of leading,” said Amuthenu.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) secretary general Manuel Ngaringombe also did not welcome the proposal.
Ngaringombe said the call came at a bad time because people were already participating in elections.
“There was a time when we wanted to work with parties, but parties didn’t want to work with us, so we have our candidate for the presidency,” he said.
Ngaringombe also said PDM is not moved by the special election results.
“Those who voted are those getting commands from their superiors,” he mentioned.
National Empowerment Fighting Corruption (NEFC) president Kenneth Iilonga also rejected the proposal.
He said there is a lack of consensus within his party regarding endorsements, allowing members the freedom to support their preferred candidates.
“We tried to discuss the endorsements, but we couldn’t agree on whom to choose. We approached the IPC leader, but he was not willing to listen to us,” said Iilonga.
Landless People’s Movement National (LPM) spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa said the party does not believe in the last-minute expression of panic.
“A party endorsing one party for both the presidency and the national assembly again pushes that only one party will have power in both branches of government, which leads to the same conditions that had Swapo mismanaging the country and not being able to be held accountable by the legislative because it is the legislative,” Simataa said.
He added that the suggestion came late, making it not fit for parties to govern.
“The job is not only to unseat Swapo but also to give Namibians a dignified life,” he stressed.
He said the party’s ideologies differ, noting that LPM is the only party advocating for a federal state.
“LPM is the only party to express that people will get money directly into their hands from an oil fund that will be established using a portion of the oil money gained by the Namibian oil as a direct method of fighting poverty,’’ he added.
Unlike others, the authorised representative for the Action Democratic Movement (ADM), Matheus Paulus, backed the proposal.
However, he said he would engage the party leadership on the proposal.
“I am hearing this from you. We did not discuss it. We will discuss it and get back to you. Swapo cannot be defeated by one party,” said Paulus.
The Body of Christ Party’s president, Festus Thomas, also supports the proposal.
“I am in support of the proposal because we see what is happening in this country. That is the only way we can remove the current government,” he said.