Kuvee Kangueehi
21 April 2008
Otjiwarongo — Swapo Party President, Hifikepunye Pohamba, says as the party moves closer to the half-century milestone of its existence, it must widen its mobilisation activities to strengthen party structures all over Namibia.
Pohamba made the remarks at the party's 48th anniversary celebrations at Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa region on Saturday.
Addressing a crowd of over 5000 people, Pohamba said as a broad-based movement, Swapo must have wider representation in all parts of the country and all party organs and affiliates must join hands to make the party stronger.
"We must be ready to face new and emerging challenges by adopting innovative policies to find solutions to the problems confronting our country and her people."
He said the party must be ready to embrace and harness new technologies in order to become more efficient in terms of its administrative capacity as well as its organisational culture and character.
Pohamba who is also the head of state said Swapo has demonstrated that it is the genuine political home of the majority of Namibians.
He warned party members to be wary of detractors who accuse the party of all sorts of things and said they should not allow distortions to cast a shadow on their mission of making Namibia a better place for all to live in.
With the national elections slotted for next year, Pohamba said the ruling party needs to plan in the short-, medium-term and long-term.
He called on all the relevant structures to make well-researched contributions to the election manifesto for the 2009 elections.
"Building on the strong foundation that exists, we must compile a manifesto that addresses and aims at resolving the problems of economic and social nature that our people face on a daily basis."
He noted that the party must prepare a mandate that will ensure victory at the polls next year.
The President called on party members who were misled to "come back to their home, to come back to their genuine history and to come back to the party with a glorious history of liberation".
"I call on them to come back to the party with a glorious history of socio-economic development and above all the party of national unity, racial harmony and gender equality."
At the same occasion the party president welcomed 66 new members who defec-ted from the United Democratic Front.
The Swapo Party also welcomed back six members who had a brief stint with the new party, the Rally for Democracy and Progress.
The President introduced the new leadership of the Swapo Party, which was elected at the party congress last year.
Despite the fact that the meeting, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday afternoon, took place in the morning, there was a huge turnout and the President in particular thanked the Swapo Party Regional Coordinator, Otto Ipinge and the party's regional executive for a job well done.
The Swapo Party held a number of functions around the country to mark its 48th anniversary. The meeting at Otjiwarongo was followed by celebrations at the town, which ended early yesterday morning.
The President flew back to Windhoek after the meeting as he was scheduled to leave for Mauritius.
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