Swanu wants competent parliament

SWANU president Tangeni Iijambo has urged political parties participating in next month’s presidential and National Assembly elections to choose competent and educated people to fill their parliamentary seats to improve the quality of debates in the National Assembly.

Iijambo said political parties should also campaign with the hope of breaking the two-thirds majority which the ruling Swapo Party has enjoyed since independence.

He added that the current parliament was ineffective because it was dominated by members of the ruling party who either do not positively contribute to debates, or “support what is not right”.

He made these remarks on Monday when he launched his party’s election manifesto in Windhoek.

“[We]want to break the two-thirds majority, which is jeopardising progress in Namibia. That’s why we are emphasising the issue of education so that we send educated and capable people to parliament to represent Namibians in all its realms.

“We are for meritocracy because we feel there is no need to just wheelbarrow people to parliament who are just going to be quiet or sit there and support what is not right. So, it is not a job opportunity,” he emphasised.

He added that the dominance of the ruling party in parliament was the reason why the government has failed to address several socio-economic challenges in the country since independence.

He furthermore observed that opposition parties can either work together as a collective or in their individual capacities, but the aim should be to break the two-thirds majority, which enables Swapo to change laws at will.

Iijambo further stated that Swanu would welcome any party which wants to work with them to achieve their objective of breaking the ruling party’s dominance.

“We want to send people to parliament on merit to represent all Namibians, and deal with critical issues faced by the people. The youth, especially, have to come in very strongly. People must deserve to go to parliament,” he continued.

During this year’s election, Iijambo said Swanu’s message is a “complete transformation of society”.

“Namibians yearned for a complete transformation of society, but that’s not what we have experienced. We see a lot of poverty, a lot of landlessness, and a lot of homelessness as well as corruption and crime. That is what we want to alleviate or eliminate,” he added.

Swanu only has one seat in the National Assembly, but this year, they want to get at least six seats.

Iijambo added that they have worked hard during their campaign to convince people to vote for them, and that the current economic challenges in the country should be motivation enough for the people to vote differently.

“We feel that Namibians are now touched by poverty, and the majority of them can see that the ruling party has failed. Therefore, I believe that they will vote for the party which wants to stand for them,” he said optimistically.

In their manifesto, Swanu wants to implement comprehensive free education which will be subsidised by the government, as well as universal healthcare for all Namibians.

Iijambo added that the party likewise wants some mines closed to preserve their products for future generations.

“Namibia is a very wealthy country, with a very small population. So, we feel that all Namibians can feel happy under our dispensation, and we don’t need to have people living in corrugated iron shacks.

“I don’t think we need five uranium mines at the same time in Namibia. We can close some of the mines for future generations,” he added.