We are sleeping on the job – Kauandenge
Dead wood fails to raise the alarm
FIMA has caused great consternation across the country and parliamentarians came under fire for "sleeping on the job" and failing the nation by allowing the bill to be enacted.
The Swapo Party’s two-thirds majority is strangling democracy in parliament through their control of the National Assembly agenda, yhr National Unity Democratic Organisation’s (Nudo) Joseph Kauandenge argued.
He also said bills should no longer be introduced without regulations because the ruling party has allegedly misled the nation by introducing regulations only after a bill has passed in parliament.
This follows the passing of the controversial Financial Institutions and Markets Act (FIMA) that was gazetted in 2021 to replace the outdated Pension Fund Act of 1956.
While consultations are still ongoing, the Act is slated to come into force on 01 October. One in force, members of retirement funds, upon early withdrawal, will not have access to 75% of their fund credit until they reach retirement age.
This has caused great consternation across the country and parliamentarians came under fire for “sleeping on the job” and failing the nation by allowing the bill to be enacted.
While they were sleeping
According to Kauandenge, parliament has too much “dead wood”, who are unable to adequately analyse and understand the bills that come before it and thus fail to raise the alarm when interventions are required in the interest of the Namibian people.
“I tend to agree with those saying we are sleeping while on duty, but Namibians should be blamed for having given Swapo a two-third majority. Swapo dictates the agenda,” he said, adding: “The minister tables a bill in parliament, then the regulations are an afterthought and that is how the FIMA issue came about. The minister must from now on bring along the regulations so that we are not caught off-guard after the bills are passed.”
Kauandenge also criticised the lack of research capacity and support from the National Assembly management, as well as bemoaned to quality of debate in parliament.
“Yes, the research capacity of parliament leaves much to be desired, that is why we raised hell when the national budget was approved, and we held the National Assembly for some time before it was approved. The executive branch makes sure that they have all the resources, and the ministers have their personal assistants, researchers and legal drafters. Parliament has been relegated for such a long time to the background; the executive branch dominates the legislative branch and therefore don’t give enough resources to help the MPs who don’t have their own researchers,” he said.
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He also said bills should no longer be introduced without regulations because the ruling party has allegedly misled the nation by introducing regulations only after a bill has passed in parliament.
This follows the passing of the controversial Financial Institutions and Markets Act (FIMA) that was gazetted in 2021 to replace the outdated Pension Fund Act of 1956.
While consultations are still ongoing, the Act is slated to come into force on 01 October. One in force, members of retirement funds, upon early withdrawal, will not have access to 75% of their fund credit until they reach retirement age.
This has caused great consternation across the country and parliamentarians came under fire for “sleeping on the job” and failing the nation by allowing the bill to be enacted.
While they were sleeping
According to Kauandenge, parliament has too much “dead wood”, who are unable to adequately analyse and understand the bills that come before it and thus fail to raise the alarm when interventions are required in the interest of the Namibian people.
“I tend to agree with those saying we are sleeping while on duty, but Namibians should be blamed for having given Swapo a two-third majority. Swapo dictates the agenda,” he said, adding: “The minister tables a bill in parliament, then the regulations are an afterthought and that is how the FIMA issue came about. The minister must from now on bring along the regulations so that we are not caught off-guard after the bills are passed.”
Kauandenge also criticised the lack of research capacity and support from the National Assembly management, as well as bemoaned to quality of debate in parliament.
“Yes, the research capacity of parliament leaves much to be desired, that is why we raised hell when the national budget was approved, and we held the National Assembly for some time before it was approved. The executive branch makes sure that they have all the resources, and the ministers have their personal assistants, researchers and legal drafters. Parliament has been relegated for such a long time to the background; the executive branch dominates the legislative branch and therefore don’t give enough resources to help the MPs who don’t have their own researchers,” he said.
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