Namibian Opposition Calls for Early Elections

Namibia’s opposition party, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), on Monday demanded that President Hifikepunye Pohamba dissolve parliament to make way for fresh elections because the country was undergoing a “political crisis.”

RDP secretary-general Jesaya Nyamu said on Monday that “political anarchy” had reigned in Namibia, adding that there was a lot of chaos dogging the ruling Swapo party.

“Its (Swapo) president and Head of State (Pohamba) has been accused of incompetence by the former president in front of everybody and the youth wing of Swapo is on a rampage,” Nyamu said.

He was referring to last week’s calls by Swapo youth league to Pohamba to fire two cabinet ministers who are being accused of corruption.

Pohamba, who is also the president of Swapo, has not reacted to the Swapo’s youth league’s provocative statements.

Nyamu said that the youth wing of the ruling party had become too powerful, adding that it was a sign of fissures within the ruling party ahead of the 2009 crucial elections.

“It (Swapo Youth League) gives the Head of State ultimatums, threatens cabinet ministers and top Swapo officials. I have never seen a youth league criticizing the mother party in such a way,” Nyamu said, adding that former President Sam Nujoma, who retired from active politics last year, was allegedly behind the militant youth wing’s provocative statements.

But Swapo secretary-general Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana dismissed Nyamu as “paranoid and obsessed with the Founding President (Nujoma). Ever since he was expelled from the Swapo party, he has been singing songs against Founding President.”

Iivula-Ithana said that the ruling party’s youth league has “intelligence to think on its own.”

Source African Press Agency

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