TUESDAY, 1.30PM:
NAMIBIA’S parliament is poised to pass a contentious bill that provides agents of a new Central Intelligence Agency with unfettered rights to operate in any area they choose.
“No one is exceptional, so there is no need to limit the activities of the Namibia Central Intelligence Service,” Swapo’s Henock ya Kasita said in a National Council debate on Monday.
“The people should know that the objective of the bill is to provide maximum security for the state, and the best way to do it is to allow its activities to reach all areas and sectors that become suspicious, and which pose potential threats to the state and its people.”
The opposition DTA said Swapo is in a great hurry to pass the bill because it faces increasing internal dissent, as shown by the recent “sit ins” by unemployed former guerrillas, and by the increase in demands from trade unions.