…as Venaani digs into judiciary
Staff writer
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has announced that it will appeal a Monday High Court ruling against the party and the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN’s) over their decision to remove candidates from the list of members to be sworn in the National Assembly.
Charmaine Tjirare and Hidipo Hamata had challenged the ECN’s decision to accept a revised list of members to be sworn in the National Assembly after the November 2019 elections after the PDM submitted a new list, removing six candidates and replacing them with six who were not on the list prior.
PDM and ECN in their defense had argued that a political party may alter its list of candidates after the elections in terms of paragraph 4 of Schedule 4 of the Namibian Constitution.
“We have taken a resolute decision as the national executive Committee of the party. We shall explore the legal and long arm of justice by appealing the judgment. The decision of the High Court did not rule on the matters of law. We are confident that the Supreme Court will exonerate us on this matter. We reject their decision but have not exhausted our options of approaching the Supreme Court,” PDM leader, McHenry Venaani said.
“What is going to be before the Supreme Court is supremacy of the constitution over a national law. The constitution does allow us to do so, but the High Court says we must only comply with the Electoral law. We will put this matter to test at the Supreme Court. Our legal opinion is very clear that the constitution takes precedent on this matter. We are democratic institution, we respect the rule of law and will continue to consult all our members and ask them to remain calm as we are addressing this matter.”
He, however, said should the Supreme Court ruling not come out in the party’s favor, it will respect the ruling.
“We will adhere to the rule of law. We will abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court. At the moment we have a number of impediments that have not been explored.”
Venaani, during his address, questioned that neutrality of country’s judiciary, threatening to expose some judges, accusing them of making political judgments.
“There is an element that this judgment is arguing political matters and we know some of the Judges are political being. I will mention their names in due course, give me time. This judgment is trying to de-mystify the Fishrot saga,” he said.
“The minute the judiciary starts dictating who should represent the party, it sets a bad precedent. Where does our mandate end and the courts start.”
Lawyer, Norman Tjombe who was representing Tjirare and Hamata said, “The ruling means that the six members that had been sworn in Parliament under the PDM ticket are no longer members of the august house and the six that had been left out can now be sworn in.”
National Assembly Public Relations officer, David Nahongandja said, “As of now, the National Assembly has not received any new notification in relation to its membership. We believe that this issue at the moment is entirely a PDM matter until such a time when the Speaker is in writing notified otherwise.”
The PDM tripled its presence in the National Assembly after securing 16 seats in last November’s general election.
