Delegates must vote with conscience
04 September 2019 | Opinion
Much has been written about the upcoming Swapo electoral college which is set to draw up a list of 96 members the party intends to field as candidates in the National Assembly elections this November.
Several other political parties have also started the process of electing its representatives ahead of the November polls, with the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) recently concluding its electoral college. Unlike with the general election, only few party members are eligible to participate in such internal processes to elect candidates to the National Assembly.
However, Namibian politics has entered an extremely dangerous period of voting and promoting factionalism, and this, mostly at the expense of service delivery. There is deepening division and infighting in almost every political party in Namibia, while leaders are occasionally struggling to meet the ever-growing expectations of citizens.
Political parties must be encouraged to vote for their best and not simply yes-men and -women who are there to promote factional battles and unnecessary infighting. There is surely no place for self-serving individuals who have become increasingly isolated from those who pay their salaries and even vote for them. For quite some time now we have seen how the National Assembly has been reduced to a sleeping corner for some MPs instead of making a meaningful contribution during debates.
Our leaders in government, for instance, are committing some terrible mistakes and there is no internal noise about it. There is no serious attention given to jobs, public healthcare and education, among other priority areas.
It is thus our sincere hope that the political parties will use their respective electoral colleges to allow delegates to elect honestly and according to their conscience.
Several other political parties have also started the process of electing its representatives ahead of the November polls, with the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) recently concluding its electoral college. Unlike with the general election, only few party members are eligible to participate in such internal processes to elect candidates to the National Assembly.
However, Namibian politics has entered an extremely dangerous period of voting and promoting factionalism, and this, mostly at the expense of service delivery. There is deepening division and infighting in almost every political party in Namibia, while leaders are occasionally struggling to meet the ever-growing expectations of citizens.
Political parties must be encouraged to vote for their best and not simply yes-men and -women who are there to promote factional battles and unnecessary infighting. There is surely no place for self-serving individuals who have become increasingly isolated from those who pay their salaries and even vote for them. For quite some time now we have seen how the National Assembly has been reduced to a sleeping corner for some MPs instead of making a meaningful contribution during debates.
Our leaders in government, for instance, are committing some terrible mistakes and there is no internal noise about it. There is no serious attention given to jobs, public healthcare and education, among other priority areas.
It is thus our sincere hope that the political parties will use their respective electoral colleges to allow delegates to elect honestly and according to their conscience.
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