Helena Johannes
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader, McHenry Venaani has vowed that his party will not support any extension of the state of emergency, which President Hage Geingob instated earlier in the year.
This comes as the President will require a two/third majority (66 members of the 95 voting members) to be able to extend the six month state of emergency which is set to lapse next week on 17 September.
According to Venaani, his party will lobby other opposition parties against the extension of the state of emergency which will now require parliament approval.
“The state of emergency and the various lockdown measures since March have had an adverse impact on the economy. The state of emergency has not helped in bringing down the spread of COVID-19. It is not the state of emergency which will make the country’s Covid-19 figure go down, so we need to go back to normal to save the country’s economy,” he said.
Venaani said the upcoming election might be affected if the state of emergency regulations continues throughout the country, as some people might be discouraged by the limitation of people at one place and this will contribute to the slow election process.
Meanwhile economics analyst, Rowland Brown said, “Approximately 700 people die in road accidents in Namibia per year. Our calculation is that materially fewer than 600 people will [die from] COVID. Banning driving would be absurd. But endless lockdowns are fine?”
Meanwhile the PDM leader also accused the ruling party of issuing Angolans across the border with voters’ cards to bolster its chances in the upcoming elections.
