|
|
Namibia: HH is a Hypocrite - Swapo
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Namibian (Windhoek)
8 April 2008
Posted to the web 8 April 2008
Christof Maletsky
Windhoek
SWAPO has accused opposition leader Hidipo Hamutenya of hypocrisy, saying he was the driving force behind the company that prints ballot papers but cried foul when his party lost the recent by-election at Eenhana.
Following Swapo's victory in the by-election, Hamutenya claimed widespread intimidation, harassment, rigging and manipulation before declaring that the election had not been free and fair.
Swapo's secretary for information, Jerry Ekandjo, told a media briefing yesterday that Hamutenya had been part of the country's elections since Independence but never protested about the ruling party's conduct.
"His wild accusations are lies, distortions, manipulation and, outright cowardice.
People in the Swapo Party consider him a self-centred sell-out element striving for destruction of progress that has been achieved during the 18 years of Independence, all for Hamutenya's selfish gain and self-gratification," Ekandjo said.
He showed the media photographs of Hamutenya officially opening the NamPrint offices on October 1 1999.
"He was heavily involved.
It is his baby.
Look at the pictures.
He is happy...laughing...
you can see his face.
That is hypocrisy," Ekandjo said.
He described Hamutenya as a pretender who was indulging himself in "orgies of falsehood".
Ekandjo denied that Swapo had used Government vehicles to ferry supporters to and from polling stations during the Eenhana election.
"If Hamutenya is genuine with his accusation, he must come clean and substantiate all his allegations with details of the resources and infrastructure used.
Why doesn't Hamutenya report any of his allegations to the Namibian Police? How credible is his utterances if they are not taken up through the channels that can investigate and address them?" he said.
Hamutenya earlier claimed that the Government machinery and the Swapo apparatus were virtually fused and that it posed a threat to democracy and good governance.
Swapo won the election with 4 193 votes compared to 289 votes for Hamutenya's Rally for Democracy and Progress and only 12 votes for the Congress of Democrats (CoD).
"Here we have a group of people (Swapo) in power for 18 years who cannot distinguish between the party and the State.
We are becoming a clearly totalitarian state - they have no intention to share power.
We deal with a treacherous organisation, stopping at nothing to prevent free and fair elections," Hamutenya said.
Ekandjo retaliated by stating that Hamutenya either had no idea what totalitarian means or was "drumming up very cheap propaganda".
"There is no doubt that RDP has hit a dead end before it has even been conceived," he responded.
"I urge the people of Namibia who have fallen prey to the whims of the Judas Iscariot in the RDP to make a U-turn and return to the Swapo Party".
According to Ekandjo any RDP member, including Hamutenya, was welcome to return to Swapo.
However, there was no room for RDP founder Jesaya Nyamu, former student leader Abraham Ndumbu and exiled former Parliamentarian Mishake Muyongo - all expelled from the ruling party at different times.
Hamutenya earlier said he and others who have joined RDP had protested against abuse inside Swapo, but in vain.
|
"Forgive us who were in the Swapo system and aware of such things, but the main goals were put first: liberating Namibia, setting up a functioning State and developing the country," Hamutenya said.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
