Will Namibia’s President Sam Nujoma change the Constitution to suit himself? Graham Hopwood reports from Windhoek
THERE is growing speculation in Namibia that President Sam Nujoma will not stand down as president in 1999 as demanded by the country’s Constitution, but run for a third term in office.
Support for Nujoma to run for another term is believed to strong within the ruling party, the South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo).
Nujoma is 67 and would be 70 when due to give up office, younger than other regional leaders such as Mandela (78) and Mugabe (72).
Nujoma himself has given conflicting signals about his intentions. He told the BBC World Service last year that he would stand down to make way for a younger member of Swapo, but within weeks he was telling Zimbabwean television that the question of whether he would run again would be left for the party to decide.
Unless Nujoma clearly indicates that he will stand down, he is likely to face calls from within Swapo to stay on as the “father of the nation”. Nujoma has been Namibia’s only president since the country’s independence in 1990.
But any attempt to run for office again would mean changing the Constitution, which currently restricts the incumbent to two five-year terms.
Swapo has the political power to amend the Constitution with its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, but the suggestion that the country’s supreme law be changed to suit a third term for Nujoma is already meeting resistance.
Namibia’s Constitution has not been amended since independence. Professor Andr du Pisani, a political scientist at the University of Namibia, said of the prospect of changing the country’s supreme law: “The Constitution is the founding document of the new republic. To tamper with it would be hugely undesirable.”
Du Pisani added that a constitutional amendment would result in “personal rule” by Nujoma. “It effectively means the incumbent is the only person fit to hold high office. The person and the office become almost one.”
Editor of The Namibian newspaper, Gwen Lister, was unequivocal on the question of a third term.
“The president should leave office with his reputation and integrity intact, and not go the way of Kaunda and other African leaders, who have been discredited by serving virtual life terms in office,” Lister said.
Other Swapo members privately say that a third term for Nujoma may not be desirable but could avoid damaging in-fighting within Swapo over succession to the presidency.
Nujoma has not groomed an heir-apparent to his office. Prime Minister Hage Geingob is admired internationally, but has little popular support within Swapo. Minister of Trade Hidipo Hamutenya is believed to nurse presidential ambitions, but has so far been content to wait in the wings.
Minister of Agriculture Helmut Angula had any presidential hopes he might harbour dented when he was summarily moved by Nujoma last year from the finance portfolio after only a short time in the post.
Minister of Lands Pendukeni Ithana is sometimes mentioned as a rising star in the party, but her fortunes largely depend on whether she is able to steer through sensitive land reform legislation effectively.
Minister of Fisheries Hifikepunye Pohamba is regarded as a possible successor if the party decides to go for another “father figure”. Recent speculation has focused on a combined ticket of Swapo vice-president and Deputy Prime Minister Hendrik Witbooi as the party’s presidential candidate for the 1999 election with Hamutenya as his prime minister.
Swapo’s official position is that no decision about changing the Constitution to accommodate a third term for Nujoma has yet been taken. The issue is almost certain to come up at the party’s congress scheduled for the middle of the year.
Another option apparently already discussed at high levels within the party is to put the issue of a third term for Nujoma to a national referendum.
The outcome of this, if a “yes” for Nujoma, could be used to offset international fears that democracy in Namibia was being eroded.