Observer Money

Shortage of magistrates hampering finalisation of cases

Shortage of magistrates hampering finalisation of cases

Eba Kandovazu THE Executive Director in the Office of the Judiciary, Bernhardt Kukuri says that more Magistrates are needed in the country to ensure the speedy finalisation of cases. Namibia currently only has 104 magistrates. Kukuri stated that more courts need to be built in the country to fast track the slow finalisation of cases and the backlog of cases at courts. Currently, Namibia only has 37 magistrate courts and 35 periodical courts. Kukuri was responding to queries after President Hage Geingob expressed disappointment in the slow turning wheels of justice at the opening of the Legal year today. Geingob…
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Swapo has enough land to build a hospital – Shaningwa

Swapo has enough land to build a hospital – Shaningwa

Eba Kandovazus The Swapo Party has the capacity to build a hospital, instead of transforming its headquarters in the Capital into a top notch health facility as demanded by some. The secretary general said this during her annual address to the Swapo Party staff member. Sophia Shaningwa said the party’s headquarters opposite the aging and dilapidated Katutura State Hospital, has become the subject of public comment with some suggesting that it be transformed into a state of the art hospital. She said the building has not been constructed to accommodate a hospital with doctors’ surgeries. Shaningwa however, said that the…
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NDF passenger bus collides with pick-up

NDF passenger bus collides with pick-up

Eba Kandovazu THE Namibian police are investigating a case of reckless and negligent driving after a Namibian Defence Force (NDF) bus carrying 30 soldiers collided this morning with a pick-up while reportedly trying to avoid a head-on collision with an incoming truck. The accident happened between Arandis and Usakos. According to Nampol Erongo spokesperson Inspector Ileni Shapumba, the NDF truck was transporting soldiers to Luderitz for rotational duties. The 54-year old driver of the bakkie sustained serious injuries but is in a stable condition. He was traveling alone. The driver of the bus, aged 42 escaped with minor injuries. “Two…
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Constitution remains a  “straight jacket in socio-economic terms”  …as it marks 32 years anniversary

Constitution remains a “straight jacket in socio-economic terms” …as it marks 32 years anniversary

Tujoromajo Kasuto POLITICAL analysts had a number of comments about the implementation and overall pursuit of equal rights for all, with some claiming that the constitution has become a socio-economic straight jacket, 32 years after its adoption on February 9, 1990. According to political analyst and historian Henning Melber, a constitution is the legislative framework for a society, and that in democracies guided by the rule of law, such as Namibia, the constitution is never set in stone, but must reflect a value system that is subject to change. "As a normative framework, constitutions fall short of day-to-day political and…
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Suspended Swapo coordinator wants Helmut amendments ditched

Eba Kandovazu A host of demands by a suspended member of Swapo to set aside the provisions of the Swapo Party constitution that deal with the qualification for candidature for election to the top four of the party. The changes to the party constitution now referred to as Helmut Angula amendments that were adopted in 2018 requires a Swapo Party member to have served 10 years continuously on the Central Committee to be eligible for nomination to run for the top four party position, namely that of the President, Vice President, Secretary General and the deputy. Reinghold Shipwkineni, was the…
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Nurses contradict mom’s version in death of newborn

Nurses contradict mom’s version in death of newborn

Tujoromajo Kasuto A civil suit for alleged negligence leading to the death of a newborn baby has been set down in the High Court of Namibia for a four-day hearing in June. The mother of the newborn Peelina Nghikumwa is suing the Minister of Health and Social Services for N$565 000 after her baby died as a result of alleged negligence at the Engela State Hospital in 2017. The case was heard in the High Court yesterday by Judge Herman Oosthuizen who postponed the matter to June. According to court documents, the baby fell on its from the mother’s womb…
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IPC’s Hishoono alleges close family ties to Monica Geingos

IPC’s Hishoono alleges close family ties to Monica Geingos

Eba Kandovazu IT has emerged in court today that Independent Patriots of Change (IPC) office-bearer Abed “Bishop” Hishoono and First Lady Monica Geingos are not complete strangers. The First Lady is suing Hishoono for N$350 000 for defamation. The court heard that Hishoono’s father was accommodated by Geingos’ father during his visits to Oranjemund. This came to the fore, as Judge Orben Sibeya wanted to know why Hishoono didn’t use his father to extend an apology to Geingos through her father on his behalf for the defamatory comments he made against her. Hishoono was adamant in court today that the…
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Jacob Marengo Secondary School faces uncertain future………..government withdraws subsidy

Jacob Marengo Secondary School faces uncertain future………..government withdraws subsidy

Tujoromajo Kasuto THE future of Jacob Marengo Senior Secondary School hangs in the balance as the government withdrew its subsidy from the financially struggling school in December 2021. The privately owned school is owed a historic debt of over N$2 million dollars in school fees by parents. The school has for years been funded partially by the government with a subsidy of N$4 million. The government subsidy covered salaries for teachers with no benefits. The government paid salaries of 17 teachers, the rest of the staff were funded by the school from its own resources.. The Director of the school,…
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LPM returns favour to Karas, Hardap regions….offers N$500 000 scholarships

LPM returns favour to Karas, Hardap regions….offers N$500 000 scholarships

Eba Kandovazu The announcement by the Landless People’s Movement of providing scholarships to students in Karas and Hardap has invited mixed reactions from their rival political parties. LPM’s Utaara Mootu announced the news of the scholarships on social media, with critics saying the move is tribalist, aimed at benefiting only those in the southern part of the country. The two regional councils controlled LPM will provide 500-thousand dollars worth of scholarships to young people from the two regions. The secretary general of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), Manuel Ngaringombe says that the decision by Kharas and Hardap regional councils to…
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All Eyes on Parliament as it resumes tomorrow

All Eyes on Parliament as it resumes tomorrow

Martin Endjala A well known political commentator has urged parliamentarians to behave in a respectable manner in Parliament and to refrain from turning the house into chaos with inflamatory personal insults this year. The National Assembly in particular, could not finish its scheduled work last year, as motions could not be attended to due to unending confrontations between political parties in the house. The question is whether we are going to see a repeat of last year’s unproductive interruptions, during this year of Reimaging? Henning Melber, political analyst, told Windhoek Observer that he hopes that MPs will show the measured…
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