Martin Endjala
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) deputy leader Henny Seibeb has called out Swapo Members of parliament, alleging that they rarely attend sessions, leading to a lack of finalization of motions. Seibeb an interview with this publication alleged that instead, the MPs choose attend to their personal ambitions at the expense of the nation, while they were needed to be in the chamber finalizing tabled bills and motions.
Seibeb made the remarks following President Hage Geingob’s speech during the official opening of the 7th session of the 7th Parliament yesterday, where he said that the non-finalization of the High court amendment bill and the Magistrate amendment bill was due to a lack of quorum as a result of opposition parties boycotting parliament.
Late last year, the Deputy Minister of Works and Transport Veikko Nekundi in a parliament session used the word “hypocrites”, purportedly addressed to opposition party MPs who demanded that he apologizes or they would boycott parliament. Opposition parties claimed that his statement was derogative and out of line, they further claimed that the National Assembly speaker Peter Katjavivi was not addressing the absenteeism of some of the incumbent party MPs who were campaigning for their internal campaigns.
Seibeb says this was one of the reasons why they decided to boycott sessions, after numerous attempts by the opposition parties calling on the NA speaker to address the matter but failed to do so.
Geingob said that both the High Court Amendment Bill and the Magistrates Court Amendment Bill are intended to impose judicial oversight on the sale in execution of immovable property of debtors by creditors to ensure that the rights of both parties are adequately protected throughout the process.
Furthermore, he stated that the objective is to protect the rights of debtors in the sale of primary homes in execution by judgment creditors, thereby enhancing the protection of the right to human dignity and the right to housing, adding that the two bills speak to a troubling situation that has been witnessed in the country regarding the repossession of houses where the process of home foreclosure is said to be a humiliating and traumatic experience, especially for the most vulnerable members of society.
“I am therefore pleased to note that we are moving towards ensuring that the dignity of our citizens is protected and that there will be judicial oversight on the sale in execution of immovable properties”, stated the President, who has since called on MPs to re-double their efforts in ensuring that there is always a quorum.
Meanwhile, the National Council MP Paulus Mbangu applauded the President for touching on the issue of no quorum which resulted in some bills and motions tabled in parliament not being finalized saying that it was a great move by the head of state as parliamentarians need constant reminding as to why they are in parliament.
However, the MP said he expected Geingob to give an update on the achievements or cabinet agenda points amidst the ongoing events in the country such as flash floods.
“As the Head of State, the nation and I expected to hear a short overview of what is happening behind the scenes just to give us a bit of hope or something that there are movements taking place, because an ordinary Namibian watching and listening to the President, will feel that the President does not care at all about the status quo that has rocked the nation”, Mbangu explained.
