Catherine Sasman
6 February 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
He added: "Namibia is a tolerant country; the Government is very tolerant. We have peace and unity, a multiparty system, freedom of the press. The State is well managed."
He said the economy has steadily grown over the years, but of concern is widespread poverty. "I would recommend drastic steps [to deal with poverty]," said Geigob.
"Namibians know their rights, not only to express their views, but also to hold officials accountable," said Gurirab.
Co-editor of 'The Constitution at Work: 10 Years of Namibian Nationhood', Sam Amoo, said the spirit and letter of the Constitution, on the whole, is being implemented. This, he said, is reflected in the records of the decisions of the country's courts, especially in cases regarding the violation of the Bill of Rights by Government.
Kosie Pretorius, also co-author of the Namibian Constitution, however, said the translation of the Constitution happens haphazardly.
"We need to go back to the original meanings as captured in the minutes of the 21-member sub-committee of the Constitutional Assembly that was responsible for the wording of the Constitution," said Pretorius.
He has, however, requested to have access to these original documents, but said that he had been repeatedly denied access thereto.
"This is the biggest handicap of the Constitution."
A niggling issue, said Pretorius, is the interpretation of what Affirmative Action is supposed to mean. According to him, the original intent of the Constitution was that Affirmative Action would not have an effect on a certain group, but instead on individuals.
"A major drawback is that there was no clear and correct implementation of the Articles dealing with Affirmative Action and Property Rights, where property rights deal with land, even though land distribution never came up in the discussions during the drafting of the Constitution."
Congress of Democrats Member of Parliament, Nora Schimming-Chase, was of the opinion that the national impact of the Namibian Constitution is still "very limited".
"This is so simply because on the one hand the nation at large is not very aware of the Constitution; the public out there is not too knowledgeable of their rights. This can be seen from people's reactions when new parties are formed. There is a perception that it is wrong to start new parties. One the other hand, even if we have a beautiful Constitution, it is not being implemented. For example, the Constitution makes provision for gender equality, but a cursory look at representation in the top structures of political parties, gender equity is lacking. This is the same for businesses despite Affirmative Action.
She said because the constitution making process was a matter of give-and-take, promises were made, but not all kept, such as the amendment for the third presidential term.
Of concern, also, said Schimming-Chase, was that there is no clear separation of powers.
"The executive is numerically stronger than the legislature. This compromises the oversight function of the legislature," Schimming-Chase said.
Director of the Namibian Institute of Democracy (NID), Theunis Keulder, was of the opinion that although the Constitution has great symbolic value as well, there is still a lot of scope for people to get to know the content of the Constitution.
"Democracy needs active and involved people; this is sometimes lacking," said Keulder, suggesting that more should be done at schools to inform people of their rights. "Institutions that implement democracy have an obligation to do more."
Although there is a general respect for the Constitution, said Keulder, with a weak opposition, the media often acts as a guardian of the Constitution.
He also felt that the biggest challenge is that there appears to be little difference between the executive and the legislature.
Geingob said a major flaw of the Constitution is the proportional representation, which, he said, does not allow for direct accountability and transparency, "which is the biggest asset of democracy".
Gurirab said the Constitution is "deliberately weak" in an attempt to try and "balance the strength of the State versus the weaknesses of the people", where the State has resources at its disposal, which people may not have.
"But if such weaknesses stand in the way of progress, it should be addressed through Acts of Parliament."
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