Allexer Namundjembo
Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says no law will pass in parliament as long as his party serves as the official opposition.
He said the opposition’s role is to scrutinise every bill brought before the National Assembly.
“There is a need to scrutinise because our constitutional article 41 says that ministers shall be accountable to parliament. We are not going to have tissue paper bills brought in and passed tomorrow,” he said during IPC’s event in Walvis Bay on Saturday,
His remarks come after President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah criticised parliament for leaving some bills unfinished.
During a recent Swapo youth engagement, Nandi-Ndaitwah raised concerns about the mental health bill, the Land Bill, and other bills that were left unfinished on the order paper when parliament went into recess.
Parliament went into recess a week ago and will return in February of next year.
“The mental health bill is an important bill, and when it was introduced, everybody was, like, supporting it, and all of a sudden it did not go through,” Nandi-Ndaitwah had said.
Her remarks were dismissed by Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader and member of parliament Job Amupanda, who said government leaders are upset because they are not getting their way.
“We will not allow any rushed laws to give powers to individuals to make them four by four. We will keep asking questions about their corruption. Parliament is not a short lunch prayer,” Amupanda wrote.
Sources close to the President say she had hoped parliament would approve a bill introduced by interim minister of industries, mines and energy Frans Kapofi, which seeks to give the president full authority over oil and gas.
“She was hoping that this bill was to be passed. Remember the Dangote deal? The source said, “It can only succeed if the president has the powers, as we lack a mines and energy minister and the president will have the oil powers.”
