Swapo axe falls in Oshakati
06 February 2020 | Politics
The Oshakati East and Oshakati West Swapo district executives have jointly recalled Oshakati town councillors Onesmus Shilunga and Gabriel Kamwanka, who in December boycotted the political office-bearers election at the town.
They had boycotted the election in protest against Swapo's Oshakati East district executive's decision to bring back Katrina Shimbulu after she resigned last October in compliance with Article 47 of the constitution following her accepting her nomination as a ruling party candidate for the November 2019 National Assembly election. She did not make it to parliament after Swapo lost its two-thirds majority and 14 MP seats in the poll.
Shilunga and Kamwanka confirmed their recall, adding they would now plot a way forward.
Swapo Oshakati East a district coordinator Maria Shivute and her Oshakati West counterpart Heimo Uudhila said the two councillors failed to comply with the district executives' orders.
“Be informed that we received your letters dated 31 January and it is very much unfortunate that your request has not been accepted because you did not answer as expected. You were requested to accept or reject the offer to be sworn in on 31 January, but you failed,” they said in a joint letter to the two councillors.
“The secretariats of the two district executives were left with no other option but to recall you and replace you as councillors, as per the rule and procedures of Swapo.”
“I can confirm that we have received our recall letters on Tuesday and we first have to sit down and see what decision we will then take. I do not think we have violated any rule, because when they asked us to give our reasons why we could not get sworn in we just did that,” Kamwanka said.
In November last year Shimbulu and other politicians affected by the enforcement of Article 47 by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) had to resign upon acceptance of their nominations for candidates in the National Assembly election.
At Oshakati, Shimbulu and CEO Werner Iita tendered their resignations, but due to Swapo's lukewarm performance in the election, they did not make it to parliament.
Shilunga and Kamwanka decided to boycott the office-bearers' election because they were not happy with the district executive's decision to return Shimbulu as councillor.
Kornelius Kapolo is currently the acting CEO at Oshakati.
ILENI NANDJATO
They had boycotted the election in protest against Swapo's Oshakati East district executive's decision to bring back Katrina Shimbulu after she resigned last October in compliance with Article 47 of the constitution following her accepting her nomination as a ruling party candidate for the November 2019 National Assembly election. She did not make it to parliament after Swapo lost its two-thirds majority and 14 MP seats in the poll.
Shilunga and Kamwanka confirmed their recall, adding they would now plot a way forward.
Swapo Oshakati East a district coordinator Maria Shivute and her Oshakati West counterpart Heimo Uudhila said the two councillors failed to comply with the district executives' orders.
“Be informed that we received your letters dated 31 January and it is very much unfortunate that your request has not been accepted because you did not answer as expected. You were requested to accept or reject the offer to be sworn in on 31 January, but you failed,” they said in a joint letter to the two councillors.
“The secretariats of the two district executives were left with no other option but to recall you and replace you as councillors, as per the rule and procedures of Swapo.”
“I can confirm that we have received our recall letters on Tuesday and we first have to sit down and see what decision we will then take. I do not think we have violated any rule, because when they asked us to give our reasons why we could not get sworn in we just did that,” Kamwanka said.
In November last year Shimbulu and other politicians affected by the enforcement of Article 47 by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) had to resign upon acceptance of their nominations for candidates in the National Assembly election.
At Oshakati, Shimbulu and CEO Werner Iita tendered their resignations, but due to Swapo's lukewarm performance in the election, they did not make it to parliament.
Shilunga and Kamwanka decided to boycott the office-bearers' election because they were not happy with the district executive's decision to return Shimbulu as councillor.
Kornelius Kapolo is currently the acting CEO at Oshakati.
ILENI NANDJATO
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