That is so because it brought about some changes within the political landscape of this country. It was also because for the first time in the history of this country, the ruling Swapo Party changed its constitution to ensure 50/50 gender representation in parliament by its members.
As a result of those elections, there were high expectations and euphoria after the ruling party and its presidential candidate, Dr Hage Geingob, was overwhelmingly voted to power. Because of the high expectations and euphoria, the waiting period for the inauguration of the President and announcement of the Cabinet was too long, as people were keen to know those who will be on the steering wheel of the sixth government as we navigate through the five years of a constitutional mandate.
However, the President-elect then, was considerate enough. In the process, he convened three media conferences to unpack his agenda. At the first conference, he revealed the names of additional eight members to parliament per virtue of the constitution. During the second conference, he announced the Vice-President, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Finally, he announced during the third conference the ministers and deputy ministers. That was indeed a systematic move and the best way of informing the general public in order to avoid apprehension during the waiting period.
The above media conferences were then followed by swearing in of members of parliament and appointment of ministers and deputy ministers. As expected, the appointment of ministers and deputy ministers had drawn some mixed reactions. There were views that the appointments were fair enough. There were those who thought that the Cabinet was top-heavy, bloated, duplicating in responsibilities, tribal and gender imbalanced. There was also a concern of too many young politicians getting into the political mainstream at the expense of the old guards.
In reaction to some of those views, the President-elect then, was very clear that there are two separate structures. Firstly, there was a Swapo constitutional factor of 50/50 gender representation to parliament, which was executed by Swapo Party 100 percent during the November elections. Secondly, the supreme law of the land is silent on the political parties’ representation in parliament. This means when forming a government, the President is not obliged by the party constitution. He was rather guided by the philosophy of effective and efficient service delivery.
Based on this philosophy, the President-elect, demanded CVs from the Swapo Party members-elect. The CVs were the tools to measure the academic qualifications and capabilities that were required when appointing ministers and deputy ministers.
In the process, the top four appointments – whether by design or by default – were 50/50 gender balanced. On the other hand, the Cabinet is made up of 24 members seven of whom are women. The deputy ministers are 32 in total – 15 of them are women, which is close to 50/50 gender balance. In my view, these appointments are therefore, done not based on tribal and gender balancing. Rather, on the philosophy of effective and efficient service delivery.
In the final analysis, it may be too early to judge whether the top-heavy and bloated structure will deliver the desired perennial end-state. But time will be the best judge.
On what is seen to be duplication, it is ideal to wait until the individual terms of reference are out. On the demand for tribal and gender balancing, I for one do not favour tribal and gender balancing at the expense of effective and efficient service delivery.
On age, that question does not hold water. At the time when our current President led the Constituent Assembly drafting the constitution, he was just 47 and turned 48 after he was already appointed as the first Prime Minister.
The question is, was he young or old? The bottom line is, the supreme law of the land, Chapter 5, Article 28 (3) stipulates that “every citizen of Namibia…over the age of thirty five (35) shall be eligible for election as President”.
I wonder whether there is someone in the National Assembly who is under age.
It is, therefore, my conviction that as long as there are some old brooms, who kno
w all the corners assisted by new brooms who can sweep clean, the combination will deliver the required services to the needy people.