NUNW lashes Katjavivi over Nujoma insults
ELLANIE SMIT
WINDHOEK
National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) secretary-general Job Muniaro has lashed out at National Assembly speaker Peter Katjavivi for failing to maintain order, specifically during a recent incident in which Landless People's Movement (LPM) Bernardus Swartbooi called founding president Sam Nujoma “a thug and a liar”.
“As NUNW, we are not happy with the manner in which the speaker is presiding over the business of the house, as he is failing to enforce the rules and maintain order,” Muniaro said yesterday.
The NUNW has also urged that Katjavivi demand that Swartbooi unconditionally withdraw his “uncultured utterances”. Swartbooi should be excommunicated from the National Assembly if he fails to do so, the union said.
Infuriated
Muniaro further said they are “infuriated, shocked and irreconcilably provoked by the decay and moral values in the current National Assembly, as demonstrated by a higher degree of indiscipline, lack of respect and an uninvited attack on Nujoma”.
“These unprovoked attacks are clearly a testimony that entry into the National Assembly by the likes of Swartbooi has turned parliament into a house of personal fights, insults, disorder and loss of direction, where members fail to follow the rules with diligence and tact, while there is a lack of accountability and strict enforcement of such orders and rules and procedures by the speaker,” Muniaro said.
He pointed out that as a retired leader, Nujoma has no locus standi in parliament to defend himself against Swartbooi's insults.
“Therefore, this behaviour and insults by Swartbooi must be condemned in the strongest terms and with the deserving contempt.”
Wasting time
“NUNW wishes to remind members of parliament that while wasting valuable time with personal fights, there are urgent and critical issues of national interest with which they ought to be seized with, and [that they should] provide laws that enable the nation to prosper, such as on the issues of land availability, development, acquisition and land utilisation,” Muniaro said.
The union further called on members of the National Assembly to concentrate on passing laws to direct government in its daily management of the affairs of the country and refrain from childish and irresponsible conduct that is counterproductive to national objectives.
WINDHOEK
National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) secretary-general Job Muniaro has lashed out at National Assembly speaker Peter Katjavivi for failing to maintain order, specifically during a recent incident in which Landless People's Movement (LPM) Bernardus Swartbooi called founding president Sam Nujoma “a thug and a liar”.
“As NUNW, we are not happy with the manner in which the speaker is presiding over the business of the house, as he is failing to enforce the rules and maintain order,” Muniaro said yesterday.
The NUNW has also urged that Katjavivi demand that Swartbooi unconditionally withdraw his “uncultured utterances”. Swartbooi should be excommunicated from the National Assembly if he fails to do so, the union said.
Infuriated
Muniaro further said they are “infuriated, shocked and irreconcilably provoked by the decay and moral values in the current National Assembly, as demonstrated by a higher degree of indiscipline, lack of respect and an uninvited attack on Nujoma”.
“These unprovoked attacks are clearly a testimony that entry into the National Assembly by the likes of Swartbooi has turned parliament into a house of personal fights, insults, disorder and loss of direction, where members fail to follow the rules with diligence and tact, while there is a lack of accountability and strict enforcement of such orders and rules and procedures by the speaker,” Muniaro said.
He pointed out that as a retired leader, Nujoma has no locus standi in parliament to defend himself against Swartbooi's insults.
“Therefore, this behaviour and insults by Swartbooi must be condemned in the strongest terms and with the deserving contempt.”
Wasting time
“NUNW wishes to remind members of parliament that while wasting valuable time with personal fights, there are urgent and critical issues of national interest with which they ought to be seized with, and [that they should] provide laws that enable the nation to prosper, such as on the issues of land availability, development, acquisition and land utilisation,” Muniaro said.
The union further called on members of the National Assembly to concentrate on passing laws to direct government in its daily management of the affairs of the country and refrain from childish and irresponsible conduct that is counterproductive to national objectives.
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