Haingura breaks silence on recall

FORMER deputy health minister Petrina Haingura said the decision by President Hage Geingob to recall her from the National Assembly was unjust.

Geingob recalled Haingura this week, saying that he did so because she was no longer secretary of the Swapo Party Women’s Council.

She told yesterday that the President’s reasons to recall her do not add up.

“Why now? Why have I been removed now? I could have been recalled in 2016 when I was not secretary,” she said, and questioned why Geingob had kept her on after she lost the position in 2016.

Haingura’s supporters said Geingob was taking revenge on his rivals after the 2017 Swapo congress where the party elected its party leadership for the next five years.

Geingob has taken some form of action against three out of five senior politicians who challenged him at last year’s congress.

Beside recalling Haingura, Geingob fired former youth minister Jerry Ekandjo and former home affairs minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana last month.

Ekandjo challenged Geingob for the party presidency last year, but failed. Iivula-Ithana challenged Geingob’s choice for party vice presidency, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

Haingura, who previously held the position of secretary of the Swapo Party Women’s Council, lost that position in December 2016 to Eunice Iipinge at the women’s council congress at Keetmanshoop.