Swartbooi, Seibeb remain blacklisted

SHELLEYGAN PERTERSEN and PUYEIPAWA NAKASHOLELANDLESS People’s Movement (LPM) leaders Bernadus Swartbooi and Henny Seibeb will remain barred from the National Assembly (NA) as a small sea of orange engulfed the parliamentary precinct yesterday.

This comes after the parliamentary committee on standing rules and orders and internal arrangements met yesterday, NA spokesperson David Nahogandja yesterday confirmed.

“After deliberation on the matter it was decided to sustain the speaker’s ruling of 15 April 2021 that the two MPs remain withdrawn from the chamber for the time being,” he said.

The committee decided to refer the matter back to the committee of privileges, which will convene a meeting on Monday.

This hangover from president Hage Geingob’s state of the nation address, during which Swartbooi was escorted from parliament and Seibeb was thrown out by the head of state’s bodyguard, has seen a tense atmosphere descend on lawmakers.

Yesterday afternoon the LPM confirmed it was drafting legal documents to challenge the Seibeb and Swartbooi ban.

There were more angry scenes in the NA yesterday when LPM member of parliament (MP) Utaara Mootu claimed instructions were given to parliamentary police officers to not allow certain parliamentarians to enter.

Mootu said she was initially stopped from entering the building and was only allowed in after Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) MPs Vipua Muharukua and Inna Hengari alerted NA secretary Lydia Kandetu to the situation.

An irate Mootu brought this to the attention of deputy speaker Loide Kasingo, who had no idea about the incident.

“We will follow it up,” Kasingo said.

Mootu insisted that the house break for tea to discuss the alleged temporary ban of all LPM members.

The break was supported by PDM leader McHenry Venaani and Rally for Democracy and Progress leader Mike Kavekotora.

Kasingo returned to the chambers saying police officers misinterpreted the instruction to ban Swartbooi and Seibeb, thinking it was applicable to all LPM parliamentarians.

“The speaker explained there was no communication to ban any member of parliament, including the members of the LPM who were not involved in last week Thursday’s incident,” she said.

Kasingo said Katjavivi would contact police inspector general Sebastian Ndeitunga to clarify the instruction.

Mootu decided to “cool down” after the tea break instead of joining the rest of the MPs who resumed budget debates.

Meanwhile, National Unity Democratic Organisation MP Joseph Kauandenge flagged the incidents saying there is a narrative that the NA is seen to be against the LPM as a political party.

Similarly, Kavekotora described the events as a “police takeover”, saying Kasingo should be concerned about law enforcers taking the law with regards to the NA into their own hands.

“We are an independent branch of power, and you are causing us to lose control of this independent institution, and that is not the right thing to do,” he said.

Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah believes Katjavivi should not have gone to the extent of barring two MPs from the chambers, which led to the police preventing Mootu from entering the building.

He says voters would carry the consequences.

“You are not punishing the two, but punishing the voters,” he says.

Another political commentator, Frederico Links, labelled the events as disturbing and a threat to competitive open political service.

“I think a case should be made to challenge this matter in court. We all need clarity on the rules here and the basis upon which the LPM leaders have been barred,” he says.

Links believes the speaker’s reaction was “a bit heavy-handed and an overreaction”.

Kandetu yesterday said no instruction was issued to bar Mootu from entering the NA.

“She is free to come and go as she wishes, like any other member of parliament,” she said.