Staff Writer
Swapo party President Hage Geingob has again denied continues news reports of a rift between himself and the vice president of the Party, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, ahead of the November congress.
This comes after allegation that Nandi-Ndaitwah has been omitted from traveling delegations on many of Geingob’s official international trips this year.
“There is simply no truth in the allegation of fallout between the two leaders. President Geingob
believes in leadership that is collegial and consultative, with a healthy balance of horizontal and vertical decision making. In fact, President Geingob delegates the Deputy Prime Minister on many occasions to represent him. The Presidency would like to repeat that President Geingob consults and seeks inputs from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation on global affairs,” said the presidency Furthermore, the presidency stated that it fully understands MICRO mandate as the primary implementing and coordinating agency of our foreign policy, which has not bucked the trend in the conduct and practice of diplomacy over the years and that Nandi-Ndaitwah consults the President on the issues in the province of International Relations and Cooperation.
Additionally, the presidency stated that Foreign Ministers are not always present when heads of state travel abroad.
“Foreign Ministers do not always accompany Heads of State when they travel abroad; this is standard practice around the world. It is normal, and Namibia is not an exception to that global
practice. You would have noticed that the President travels with small delegations and this is consistent with the ethos that President Geingob has emphasised about the Namibian Government doing more with less,” he added.
Meanwhile it was also alleged that Geingob and Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa are allegedly also “drifting apart”.
It was reported that fragile relationship between the president and Shaningwa comes at a time when Swapo factions are positioning their delegates for the upcoming congress.
