Brigitte Weidlich
8 April 2008
Windhoek — THE stale budget debate in the National Assembly plunged to even lower levels on Thursday as Swapo MPs tried to derail the speeches of opposition members and Lands Minister Jerry Ekandjo jumped up several times to interrupt them.
Nudo Chief Whip Arnold Tjihuiko criticised the new budget for having the wrong priorities by spending less on the country's productive sectors.
"There is also too much rhetoric from the ruling Swapo party on the liberation struggle all these years.
Swapo is still living in the past, concentrating on who liberated the country, spending N$80 million on a liberation film about one person, while there is no medicine in our hospitals," Tjihuiko criticised.
Prime Minister Nahas Angula stood up and said Swapo's insistence on the liberation struggle was important.
"If history was not important, how come Nudo, through its president, Chief Kuaima Riruako, is asking for reparations for things that happened in the past?" Angula asked.
Riruako said his request for reparations was legitimate and should not be viewed as an attempt to undermine the past.
The Prime Minister then said: "The past should not be forgotten. There is legitimacy in asking for reparations, and there is also legitimacy in singing the liberation songs."
Lands Minister Jerry Ekandjo rose, holding up a Swapo flag and the Namibian national flag. "The red colour in both flags symbolises the river of blood which Namibians had to cross before liberation," he said.
"We must write our history while we are alive. Your history is a shame, and if you have no history, just keep quiet," Ekandjo shouted at Tjihuiko.
Chief Riruako retorted that he had contributed to the liberation struggle, as he had offered 155 fighters to former President Sam Nujoma during exile in Lusaka, Zambia.
Tjihuiko was then at last able to continue with his speech and lashed out at Ekandjo.
"You don't find anything wrong with N$80 million spent on one man's film was because you are a Minister and your children can attend school.
If your children were on the streets, you would have supported the idea that those funds should have been used on health or education," Tjihuiko said.
Helmut Angula, the Director General of the National Planning Commission (NPC), interjected, saying the numbers of opposition MPs dwindled because the opposition dwelled too much on irrelevant issues in Parliament.
"The reason for the decline in opposition numbers in the House is because of election rigging," Tjihuiko quipped.
At this point, Swapo MPs demanded a retraction unless the Nudo politician could prove his allegation. Speaker Theo-Ben Gurirab then criticised the standard of the debate.
"We can do better than this. I don't know whether our constituencies would be pleased to watch what we are doing now", he said.
"We are debating the budget and should concentrate on that." Henk Mudge, President of the Republican Party (RP), had an equally difficult time on Thursday.
He was constantly interrupted by Swapo MPs and could not finish his speech because his time was up.
He managed to say that Air Namibia might be blacklisted soon by international aviation bodies due to safety hazards.
Mudge criticised the Chinese building contractors in Namibia who did not comply with local labour laws.
He criticised the Windhoek municipality for granting high salaries and lavish fringe benefits to its top staff, but failing to write off the municipal debts of poor pensioners.
Prime Minister Nahas Angula then told MPs that he had a three-hour meeting with City officials the day before to reach a solution to that problem.
Mudge then wanted to speak about national reconciliation but he was interrupted by Environment and Tourism Minister Willem Konjore, who rose to ask him why white Namibians do not attend national events.
"People of my party - and they were not white - attended the inauguration of the new State House at Independence Day last month, but they left, because they thought it was a Swapo event, they saw all the people there with Swapo colours," Mudge replied.
Lands Minister Ekandjo once again got up and said he wanted to introduce a motion that in future minority parties would not enter Parliament on "left-over votes in national elections".
"At least I was elected and not appointed like you!" Mudge responded.
Deputy Education Minister Becky Ndjoze-Ojo said she felt insulted because she was appointed as MP by President Hifikepunye Pohamba, according to the constitution.
"If I offended you, I apologise," Mudge said.
"You were appointed for your qualities."
Mudge was clearly irritated that he could not finish his speech because of all the interruptions.
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