Opposition leader criticises erosion of democracy

The leader of a new opposition party in Namibia said President Sam Nujoma’s decision to change the constitution enabling him to run for a third five-year term in next week’s parliamentary and presidential elections was an erosion of democracy. Ben Ulenga, leader of the Congress of Democrats (CoD), speaking in an interview with IRIN on Friday, also cited Nujoma’s failure to consult parliament on his decision to deploy troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and growing corruption and cronyism as other factors bound to erode support for Nujoma’s governing Southwest Africa Peoples Organisation (SWAPO). Ulenga was once a member of SWAPO’s central committee and a deputy environment minister. He resigned his diplomatic post in London last year as Namibian high commissioner after the constitutional change allowing Nujoma to serve a third presidential term. He formed the CoD in March. Considered the most prominent presidential opponent, Ulenga, 47, hails from similar ethnic and social roots to Nujoma. A generation younger than Nujoma, 70, he said his party has attracted mostly young people, who want alternative solutions. He said other key issues when an estimated 847,000 voters go to the polls next week to elect a new 72-seat parliament and president, ranged from secessionist tensions in a swathe of territory in the northeast called the Caprivi Strip, high unemployment and low job prospects for trained young people. “There is no doubt we will dent the two thirds majority they won five years ago and which they have so abused. They are worried about us because this is the first time a real opposition is growing in their own territory. Nora Schimming-Chase, a former ambassador to Germany who also quit the ruling party to join the CoD, told IRIN that although they did not expect to win the presidency, they hoped to win sufficient seats in parliament to bring in a stronger opposition, so that it would no longer be able to rubber-stamp government policy. Both party officials said the economic impact of the DRC conflict had meant that no new pensioners had been able to register this year for lack of funds in government coffers. Although the government kept the deployment figures a “holy secret” they said it was believed up to 3,000 soldiers were deployed in DRC at a cost of 1 million Namibian dollars (US $150,000) a day. They also said that when they met European Union observers who arrived this week to monitor the elections, they had the impression that the outwide world, especially the western democracies, viewed Namibia as a model democracy in Africa. “They are judging us by African standards, and this is a problem. It is also very insulting to us,” said Schimming-Chase. She said about 37 percent of CoD’s membership are former SWAPO members and another 30 percent from other parties, including the main opposition pafrty, Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA). Ulenga said SWAPO was using government resources in its election campaign, and that television coverage of the campaign had thus far been skewed in favour of ruling party. He said he agreed with the assessment of the Namibia Society for Human Rights that any major inroads on government power at the ballot box could lead to violence from a party that did not want to relinquish its hold. “At least Namibia is not as far gone down the road of absolute power abuse and erosion of democracy as Zimbabwe, but we are heading that way. So far the election process this year has not been free and fair,” he said.