TheNamibian

EDITORIAL COMMENT

ALL Namibians are well aware that Swapo is the ruling party in Government. They are equally appraised of the fact that President Hifikepunye Pohamba leads the same party and is also, more importantly, our Head of State.

But our ruling political leadership, in particular the President, should also bear in mind that there needs to be a separation between the business of Government on the one hand, and the affairs of the Party on the other.

If the lines between them become increasingly blurred, as they do at present, this will result in both abuse, and even worse, corrupt activities.

If the Head of State is on official Government business (as was the case this week in Otjiwarongo when addressing the fifth congress of the Association of Regional Councils) then he is representing all Namibia.

If he addresses a Swapo rally, he is clearly doing so as the president of the ruling party.
He needs though not only to make this distinction, but to abide by it.

It was therefore not befitting a head of state to address the Association of Regional Councils and to beat the Swapo drum.

At this meeting, the President took the opportunity to 'commend' opposition parties for their withdrawal from the by-election in the Tobias Hainyeko constituency in Katutura, adding that they "would not have made it anyway".

Pohamba was clearly speaking there as the president of Swapo and not as the Head of State, and it is unacceptable that he uses a Government platform to do politicking on behalf of the ruling party.

The reason there needs to be a clear division between the business of Government and the business of Swapo is also because of the likelihood of abuse.

The bill for affairs of state is footed by the taxpayer, whereas Swapo business is its own.

(We maintain this while also cognisant of the fact that political parties represented in Parliament get a budgetary allocation on a proportional basis to conduct their affairs.)

Some may argue that the taxpayer foots the bill either way, and this may be so to a large extent, but for the purposes of this discussion, we stand by our argument that the Head of State must be clear and transparent as to when he represents the ruling party on the one hand, and when he represents the nation on the other.

So if the President, or any other senior Government official for that matter, is on 'official business' paid for by the taxpayer, this must be reflected in what they say or do.

They cannot use such an opportunity to conduct party propaganda, or else they are abusing the resources of the nation for narrow political interests.

Pohamba is renowned for his 'zero tolerance' of corruption campaign and he should be aware of the rules.

We realise that he finds himself in an invidious position at present - accused by some elements in his ruling party of not doing enough to exercise the Swapo mandate and on the other hand facing criticisms from others in the same party for not dealing more decisively with those perceived to be unruly elements in Swapo.

But he has to play it straight, making a very clear distinction between what is Government business on the one hand, and party politics on the other, or risk losing the respect of the people of this country.

Given that feelings are running high between the political combatants right now, specifically between Swapo and RDP, the country's President, in that capacity, should be doing all he can to heal the rift, rather than exacerbate it at taxpayers' expense by laying into the opposition parties.

He needs to remember clearly that as Head of State, they are his people too! Finally, it is worth restating that President Pohamba plays a vitally important role as Head of State in ensuring adherence to the Constitution, and just as importantly, in keeping the peace. We trust he will not make this mistake again.