The government of Namibia is pushing for far-reaching constitutional changes that will concentrate more powers in the Presidency and the executive branch of the State, while diluting parliament and crippling the opposition, documents seen by The Namibian show.
Prime Minister Hage Geingob, Presidential Affairs Minister Albert Kawana and law reform commissioner Sackey Shanghala have been conducting selective consultations with opposition parties to get their support for the speedy approval of the amendments ahead of the upcoming elections.
No explanation has been given why all of the amendments are being considered urgent.
Some of the proposed changes are that parties getting less than 5% of votes will not have parliamentary seats; that the President’s appointments to the National Assembly will not only increase from six to eight but will have full voting rights and powers as elected members; some powers of the National Council will be clipped and the security commission, which used to recommend appointments to the President will now play an advisory role.
In addition, the National Council would no longer make any changes to the budget.
The amendments also seek to remove regional councils’ powers and give them to the governors who are appointed by the President…
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