Katjavivi affirms executive’s authority in lawmaking

SPEAKER of the National Assembly Peter Katjavivi says only members of the executive have the constitutional mandate to bring laws to parliament.

“The National Assembly would also like to remind members of the public that all bills for discussion in the National Assembly emanate from the executive, which has the constitutional responsibility and mandate to propose laws for the effective administration of the government.

“This means, if no bill is forthcoming from the executive, neither the National Assembly, nor the speaker can initiate any legislation,” Katjavivi said in a statement yesterday.

However, he said members of parliament can use article 60 (2) of the Namibian Constitution, which says “a private members’ bill may be introduced in the National Assembly if supported by one-third of all the members of the National Assembly”.
The leader of the official opposition, McHenry Venaani, concurred with Katjavivi, though he said it is due to a lack of capacity in terms of legal drafting.

“The problem is that legal drafting is non-existent in Namibia,” Venaani said.
His sentiment was echoed by the National Unity Democratic Organisation lawmaker Joseph Kauandenge.
“The problem is capacity for the simple reason that in other Commonwealth countries, when a member enters parliament, he is supplied with a secretary, assistant researcher and legal drafter as well.

“Those members are empowered the moment they enter parliament. But here in Namibia, as a member of parliament, you are not given any supporting staff – people that are capable of doing research for you,” Kauandenge said on enquiry.

“For you, as a member of parliament, to be able to bring a private member bill, you really have to go out of your way and spend money on legal drafts. So, it is such a costly exercise that we unfortunately don’t have resources for, as members of parliament. That’s why you will never see a member of parliament in the Namibian context able to bring a private member bill to parliament.”

Meanwhile, president Hage Geingob is expected to officially open the seventh session of the seventh parliament next week on Tuesday.
Katjavivi emphasised that the annual ceremonial event on the calendar of the parliament will take place under the theme: ‘Enhancing Namibia’s Parliamentary Democracy Post-Covid-19.’

“For the past few years, parliament was forced to scale down on the activities that are normally associated with this opening ceremony due to Covid-19. However, given the easing of restrictions, traditional activities associated with this event have been retained and will be observed this year,” he said.

The bills that are likely to be tabled in the National Assembly during this session include the High Court amendment bill, magistrate courts amendment bill, divorce bill, child justice bill, ombudsman bill, marriage bill, land bill and uniform matrimonial property regime bill.