Swapo unable to interpret own rules - Kamwanyah
50/50 gender policy lacks formulae for implementation
Political analyst says Swapo is facing a Pandora's box in terms of improving the ways in which the party interprets its own rules and principles.
Political commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah has said that Swapo has demonstrated they are unable to interpret their own constitution following the controversies prior to and following the just-ended seventh elective congress.
He also told Namibian Sun that the implementation of the 50/50 gender policy is flawed.
Swapo member Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele is threatening legal action following a decision to eliminate her from the second round of elections for the party’s deputy secretary general position.
Decision questioned
Although !Nawases-Taeyele had scored 42% of the votes in the first round, with fellow candidates Uahekua Herunga receiving 47% and David Hamutenya receiving 12% of the votes, the re-run saw her excluded.
The reason for the decision, as per the then presiding officer, Joshua Kaumbi, was that based on the gender-balance principle of the Swapo constitution, enacted in 2013, the top four leadership positions should consist of only two male and two female members.
Lack of guidelines
With !Nawases-Taeyele threatening to take the party to court, Kamwanyah said her case has merit and is justifiable.
"What I can say is that she has a case to make because remember that elections are based on the will of the voters, so in that case, the voters have expressed their preference.
"She completely has a justifiable case to make," he said, adding that the 50/50 principle is flawed in many ways, but in particular, "that it lacks a formulae for how to implement it."
"So what the party is supposed to do is preempt the scenario," he said.
"If one gender wins, what can be done? But when you don’t have clear procedures of what can be done, it creates a scenario like what happened in the deputy secretary position where you can actually be challenged, and I think that’s what we are seeing."
Questions mounting
"But it is also a Pandora's box for the party because it has flaunted a lot of nominations up to the election itself, so there is a problem in the party in terms of legal interpretations of their own rules and principles. So they need to get on top of that; make sure that they interpret things correctly and not just what they think," he said.
"There is a problem, you can see it right from the start of the nominations; there were some issues that saw Ekandjo almost challenging the process and we saw the two lists of the CC; and now we have the issue of Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele – why was she not given a second chance to participate in the re-run?"
[email protected]
FLAWED: Swapo Party is accused of failing to interpret its own constitution.
PHOTO: KENYA KAMBOWE
He also told Namibian Sun that the implementation of the 50/50 gender policy is flawed.
Swapo member Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele is threatening legal action following a decision to eliminate her from the second round of elections for the party’s deputy secretary general position.
Decision questioned
Although !Nawases-Taeyele had scored 42% of the votes in the first round, with fellow candidates Uahekua Herunga receiving 47% and David Hamutenya receiving 12% of the votes, the re-run saw her excluded.
The reason for the decision, as per the then presiding officer, Joshua Kaumbi, was that based on the gender-balance principle of the Swapo constitution, enacted in 2013, the top four leadership positions should consist of only two male and two female members.
Lack of guidelines
With !Nawases-Taeyele threatening to take the party to court, Kamwanyah said her case has merit and is justifiable.
"What I can say is that she has a case to make because remember that elections are based on the will of the voters, so in that case, the voters have expressed their preference.
"She completely has a justifiable case to make," he said, adding that the 50/50 principle is flawed in many ways, but in particular, "that it lacks a formulae for how to implement it."
"So what the party is supposed to do is preempt the scenario," he said.
"If one gender wins, what can be done? But when you don’t have clear procedures of what can be done, it creates a scenario like what happened in the deputy secretary position where you can actually be challenged, and I think that’s what we are seeing."
Questions mounting
"But it is also a Pandora's box for the party because it has flaunted a lot of nominations up to the election itself, so there is a problem in the party in terms of legal interpretations of their own rules and principles. So they need to get on top of that; make sure that they interpret things correctly and not just what they think," he said.
"There is a problem, you can see it right from the start of the nominations; there were some issues that saw Ekandjo almost challenging the process and we saw the two lists of the CC; and now we have the issue of Evelyn !Nawases-Taeyele – why was she not given a second chance to participate in the re-run?"
[email protected]
FLAWED: Swapo Party is accused of failing to interpret its own constitution.
PHOTO: KENYA KAMBOWE
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