PDM officially registered

THE Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has been registered with the Electoral Commission of Namibia with no objections, party president McHenry Venaani announced on Monday.

Venaani made the announcement at a media briefing, where he also spoke about the political programme of the party. He said the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has registered the PDM, which applied for re-registration last year following its rebranding from the DTA of Namibia.

However, the process had not been without controversy as National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) spokesperson Joseph Kauandenge accused Venaani of stealing the name of his party.

In 2014, ahead of the presidential and National Assembly elections, Nudo was known as the People’s Democratic Movement, which had the same acronym – PDM.

“The ECN has officially given us our certificate, and from today onwards, there will be no contestation of who we are,” Venaani stated.

He said the party would now focus on transforming the political environment in the country in order to address issues affecting ordinary people.

“We are entering a new era, and as the PDM, we intend to heighten the level of political transformation in our republic to move forward. This year will be the season of the battle of ideas that will provide solutions to ordinary Namibians,” he promised.

The opposition leader added that his party will embark on a major membership drive this year, and will introduce new membership cards as well as establish 700 new branches across the country “as a measure to get access to voters and get better results, come 2019”.

Venaani said the introduction of new membership cards was meant to create a new database of party members, capturing all relevant information about members’ profiles.

All members would be re-registered as new members.

“Each and every member of the party will re-register. Every person is considered a non-member until they comply with the new provisions,” he said, adding that the party was targeting the registration of 200 000 members in 2018.

A call centre to constantly engage with party members would also be established this year.

In addition, the PDM will have its elective congress in the second quarter of the year to elect party leaders.

Branch, district and regional conferences will precede the national congress.

On the national elections in 2019, the youthful leader said the PDM will engage the ECN this year to “iron out impediments that are hampering the credibility of elections in the country”.

He also highlighted a few issues that the PDM would table in the National Assembly, such as tax evasion, value addition on minerals and agricultural products, and the closing or privatising of non-performing state-owned enterprises, which he said have become the “biggest thugs in this country”.

Unemployment, the health crisis and the land conference will also be raised in parliament, he said.

“We are not only going to oppose government, but we will also give credible solutions for our country,” Venaani stressed.