John Ekongo
11 April 2008
Windhoek — President Hifikepunye Pohamba's new Cabinet or "winning team" as he labels it, appears to be anything but winning, according to some opposition parties.
The greatest doubt comes from new kid on the block, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), slamming the reshuffled ministers as "deadwood who will fail in their new positions just as they have failed their previous ones".
The President's Cabinet reshuffle was less drastic than expected in the pre-election year. It has attracted mixed reaction with some opposition pundits querying the moves.
"One would have wanted to see some new faces, as well," said opposition MP, Johan De Waal, of the DTA of Namibia.
The President reallocated no less than 10 ministers to other ministries, with the exception of Peter Tsheehama of Safety and Security who has been relieved of his duties due to ill health, and John Pandeni, who died tragically in a car accident last month.
New faces are Namibia's first Prime Minister, Hage Geingob, and former Unam Vice Chancellor and Ambassador to the EU and Germany, Professor Peter Katjavivi, who will be taking the seat of Director General for the National Planning Commission (NPC). He replaces Helmut Angula who got gear shifted to the Works and Transport Ministry.
However, public criticism maintains that this is nothing but a "recycle of Cabinet" rather than "Cabinet reshuffle".
RDP in a statement described the entire affair as an exercise aimed at rewarding those that sing the "loudest" as opposed to efficiency or the ability to perform.
RDP states that the restructuring has seen most of the members retaining their Cabinet positions.
"Most of them for as long as 18 consecutive years, a fresh reminder that the Swapo Government continues to reward those who sing loudest and not efficiency or ability regarding service delivery," reads the statement.
Other opposition parties, however, had different views, most of them visibly happy with the reintroduction of Geingob to mainstream civil service.
Geingob was ushered into the position of Minister of Trade and Industry, which was mantled by Immanuel Ngatjizeko, who in turn was moved to head the Ministry of Labour.
"I am very happy that Dr Geingob is back now," said De Waal. The MP sadly felt a bit disappointed that Nickey Iyambo got moved to Safety and Security. "I think that he was very good at Agriculture, he has done some good work over there."
De Waal was quick to say that reshuffle should necessarily not be looked into as a trivial matter. He said ministers had to be reshuffled at the behest of the Head of State.
Henk Mudge, President of the Republican Party, feels that the reshuffle of Cabinet alone is not enough.
The MP is concerned about the fact that most ministries are not staffed with qualified people and knowledgeable supporting staff to advise, inform and assist them in order to perform optimally.
Although he concurs with the decision of Pohamba's prerogative to cut and paste his Cabinet, a strong emphasis should be put on Government to equip ministries with qualified people to advise the ministers satisfactorily, he said.
"Very simple, the President can reshuffle ministers, but it does not mean that the ministers reshuffled will always be the experts," said Mudge.
The Congress of Democrats (CoD) took another angle. They believe that the Namibian Cabinet is out-rightly obese, and should be made smaller.
"We are disappointed that Cabinet is not getting smaller. Practically I had hoped that some ministries would be merged and Cabinet made leaner."
According to a CoD MP, the Ministry of Safety and Security, needed to be injected with new blood. "It is true that many ministries were not performing and Safety and Security was one of them," added Ben Ulenga, President of the CoD.
Ulenga hopes that it won't be business as usual at the ministry.
Although perceived as a shrewd adaptor, Ulenga and political commentator Bill Lindeke agree that it will be very interesting to note the developments in the Environment Ministry.
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah got moved from the Information Ministry, to head what is described as a critical ministry, that of Environment and Tourism (MET).
"MET is a very technical and specialised ministry and it will be interesting to note how it will develop under the personalities. President Pohamba obviously had his reasons," remarked Ulenga.
So far, satisfaction seems to be reserved for the ministries of Trade and Industry (under Geingob), Lands and Resettlement under Alpheus !Naruseb.
The National Unity Democratic Organisation's (Nudo), Arnold Tjihuiko, describes the new Cabinet as an "economically driven team".
Tjihuiko is impressed with the decision by Pohamba to bring in Geingob at Trade, Katjavivi at the Planning Commission and to have Kuugongelwa-Amadhila at Finance as well as Iyambo at Fisheries.
These he firmly believes are critical ministries for economic growth. However, the MP is disappointed with the transfers of Ndaitwah to Environment and John Mutorwa to Agriculture.
"Nickey Iyambo was doing good at Agriculture and if the President could have opted to bring in new able faces in these ministries, the economic team would have been strong. I was totally surprised by his being taken away, he has been performing. I believe that this will upset the balance of power of that economic team," said the MP.
"We would have loved to see new faces and fresh ideas, but overall I think that he has selected a strong team that can tackle the issue of economic development. We believe that when he was drawing this team he looked at the economic aspect of the country. The issue here is whether these new personalities will be able to perform, is another question," remarked Tjihuiko.
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