Brigitte Weidlich
18 April 2008
MEMBERS of the opposition on Wednesday tried in vain to get Government to own up to the real cost of the new State House building complex in Windhoek.
Instead, Minister of Presidential Affairs Albert Kawana fobbed off the question and gave MPs a free take on history.
"The new State House is - because of our background - a symbol of Namibia's sovereignty, of our history and our struggle," Kawana told the National Assembly during the committee stage on the budget vote for the President's Office.
"Government therefore took the decision to express our history and our struggle, to honour our heroes and heroines and our forebears, that is why we call it the House of the People," a beaming Kawana said.
"People will appreciate our freedom when they see that new State House," he added.
Tsudao Gurirab of CoD and Henk Mudge of the Republican Party asked for details of the costs of the 'House of the People'.
Officially, the new State House has so far cost taxpayers only N$383,3 million.
According to building experts, however N$1 billion would be a more accurate estimate once the figures are tallied.
Kawana has announced that final costs would be announced "when the time is right".
When Mudge said that the nation had never been given detailed cost estimates in the planning stage of the new State House complex, Deputy Labour Minister Petrus Ilonga accused the RP leader of "stealing" from Government.
Mudge insisted that Ilonga withdraw his allegation, which the Deputy Labour Minister duly did.
The N$253,4 million for the Office of the President includes N$79,7 million for the national spy agency and N$20,7 million for former President Sam Nujoma, of which N$ 15,5 million will be used to build a new office for him.
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