Tujoromajo Kasuto
Swapo Party Elders Council (SPEC) mandate renewal meeting that was scheduled for Tuesday in the Okorukambe Constituency of the Omaheke Region was cancelled after some party district members claimed they were not informed of the meeting and did not approve the agenda.
The meeting was to elect delegates to represent the council at the Elders Council congress that is due to take place in July this year.
However, according to the SPEC Secretary Pijoo Nganate the agenda was endorsed by the regional executive of the Elders’ Council, as there is no district executive in place.
The meeting, Nganate says, is long overdue and the secretary of the Elders Council is under obligation to conduct the restructuring to make sure that the leadership’s mandate is renewed.
He says, he communicated, the agenda to the relevant structures, but the district coordinator Frans Murangi, was one of the members who disrupted the meeting, saying he was allegedly not involved in the process of setting up the meeting and was not duly informed.
But, Nganate says he spoke to Murangi before his departure to the meeting and there is no way he can say that he was not informed.
“The exercise was a legitimate and all procedures were followed and all relevant offices and individuals informed and endorsed it,’’ says Nganate.
He says it was simply a misunderstanding that can be resolved and they can move on as a party, adding that there is no disunity among.
Meanwhile, at the meeting some of the members accused Nganate of sowing seeds of disunity and not helping the already fragile situation in Omaheke in his capacity as the Regional Governor.
‘’Where have you seen a governor appointed and serving as an ex officio is the one running SPEC restructuring programs in the region without the knowledge of the district leadership
on the ground,’’ some members commented.
In response to this, Nganate denies having caused any disunity, claiming that he brought various groups together that ‘’did not see eye to eye’’ to iron out their differences.
He says he did not attend the meeting as the Governor of the region, but as a district executive of the Elders Council. ‘’I was elected in that position before I was governor and even if I had to relinquish the position, it must be at such a restructuring process,’’ he shared.
