Opposition Must Take Their Seats in Parliament

ELECTED Members of Parliament for the DTA of Namibia, Republican Party and the Rally for Democracy and Progress must go back to Parliament! They have made their point by boycotting sessions for a whole month.

I am suggesting this because the electorate is suffering. So are debates in the National Assembly.
The parties argue that they are entitled to more seats in the National Assembly and therefore contest the outcome of the November elections.
That means, for instance, that the 11 seats which they did collect are not in dispute and will not be affected by the outcome of their court appeal. Thus there is no prejudice to their current status as announced after the November elections.
The majority of the opposition parties shouted blue murder when the results were announced; teamed up to approach the court for permission to inspect the materials over the December holidays; challenged the results; stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony; and also appealed against the High Court order of last month.
In the appeal, nine political parties – RDP, DTA, RP, United Democratic Front, Nudo, Congress of Democrats, All People’s Party, Namibia Democratic Movement for Change and Democratic Party of Namibia – are asking the Supreme Court to reverse the March 4 decision of High Court Judge President Petrus Damaseb and Judge Collins Parker to throw the parties’ challenge to the November elections out of court on a technicality.
The two judges also ordered the opposition parties to bear the legal costs of the Electoral Commission of Namibia and Swapo which opposed their challenge to set aside last year’s elections or to order a recount of votes cast in the polls.
For that they can hold their heads up high. It was a good move for Namibia’s democracy.
Boycotting the swearing-in ceremony was a principled decision but, for me, also one that was intended to rustle up support from their constituencies as well as the international community.
In fact supporters forced the DTA leadership to stay away from the swearing-in ceremony. Nudo members tried the same with their leaders but the MPs survived the pressure and are collecting their pay cheques.
But with the latest announcement by Chief Justice Peter Shivute that the appeal will now be heard in the Supreme Court only on May 31, the three parties and their elected MPs should rethink their stance.
We have reached a kind of gridlock.
I am thinking about a scenario where the Supreme Court may refer the case back to the High Court after May 31.
If the opposition get a chance to be heard again but is not happy with the High Court ruling they can appeal to Supreme Court again. That appeal could again take another few months and keep the MPs outside the chambers for longer.
Rather than going back to Parliament then only, wouldn’t it be better if they do so now?
I know that the three parties (RDP, DTA and RP) believe that if they are sworn in now it would pre-empt the verdict of the courts and thus they decided to recuse themselves.
However, democracy - the very one the opposition parties want to promote - is being affected negatively by their Parliamentary snub.
Already the general Budget debate has been almost concluded without any input from these parties and, if they stay outside until May 31, history and the Parliamentary Hansard will record that DTA, RDP and RP were non-existent in the National Assembly between March and May 2010.
With the National Assembly set to go on recess around May 20, returning only during the last quarter of June, the politicians would thus be missing in action for another two months.
The result is that the wishes of their voters for input on the Budget and other debates in the National Assembly will be confined to the dustbin of history as some in Swapo would want.
I believe that taking their places in Parliament will not affect the outcome of their case.
Our courts are mature and at a stage where such an argument by anyone will not impact on their ruling. In any case, what about the presence, in the National Assembly, of other parties which also challenged the High Court outcome with the three? Does their presence not affect the case?
Vibrant multi-party opposition is crucial for democracy.
Instead of obsessing about the issue, the MPs should take up their seats in Parliament and do what they were elected for.
They have made their point.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian