Hertta-Maria Amutenja
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) has accused the Namibian government of excluding the party from official events during Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit, calling it an insult to democracy and the voters who supported them.
IPC leader Panduleni Itula said the government continues to sideline the opposition, despite the IPC being the second-largest party in Parliament. He said the situation was especially disappointing during Modi’s visit, given that the Indian leader represents the world’s largest democracy.
“While India’s prime minister, representing 1.4 billion people, who exercise their democratic rights, stands on Namibian soil, our own government demonstrates its contempt for those very principles by systematically excluding the leader of the official opposition from state functions,” he said.
Itula said the government’s actions send a message that the votes of nearly 300,000 Namibians do not matter.
“When 284,106 Namibians voted for the IPC, they did not merely mark a ballot, they exercised their sovereign right to shape their nation’s future,” he said.
Modi was in Windhoek on Wednesday as part of his five-nation tour, which includes Ghana and Brazil. While in Namibia, he met with President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, addressed government leaders, and received Namibia’s highest civilian honour—the Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis.
According to the IPC, the party was not invited to any official events related to the visit. Itula said this continues a pattern of deliberate exclusion. He noted the IPC was also left out of the presidential inauguration, Genocide Remembrance Day, and other major state occasions.
“Each exclusion is a deliberate choice. Each snub is a statement: ‘We are the state. The state is us. There is no room for others,’” the party said.
Itula also raised concern that the office of the Leader of the Official Opposition is not protected by law or the Constitution. He said this allows government to ignore or sideline opposition voices without consequence.
The IPC is now calling for a law or constitutional amendment that formally defines the role and rights of the opposition leader.
Efforts to get a response from the presidency were unsuccessful by the time of going to print.
