Former Namibian president Sam Nujoma formally announced this week that he would not seek re-election as president of the ruling Swapo party in a move that has been interpreted as an attempt to avert a looming split among the party’s rank and file.
His announcement, made on Monday at an emergency Swapo politburo meeting, ended months of speculation that 77-year-old Nujoma, who stepped aside as state president in 2005, would seek re-election in 2009.
Swapo’s constitution holds that the party president also has to be the presidential candidate in national elections, a position that Nujoma had held for the past 47 years.
Nujoma made it clear that he wished current Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba to succeed him as party president. His sudden announcement reportedly caught many of his colleagues off-guard.
”This announcement must serve to put to rest misinformation going round that I am seeking re-election as president of the Swapo party,” he said.
Well-placed sources said the emergency meeting was called to discuss an intelligence report handed to State House late last week, which warned that Nujoma’s position as Swapo party president was splitting the party along pro- and anti-Nujoma lines.
Nujoma’s stepping down was welcomed in Namibia, where growing unease over his continued control over party machinery had paralysed critical decision-making powers.
But analysts and other senior party colleagues cautioned that this did not mean an end to Nujoma’s role in national politics, as Swapo was planning to reactivate the equally powerful position of national chairperson on his behalf as a political face-saving measure.
Political analyst Dr Joseph Diescho, an outspoken critic of Nujoma’s rule, warned that Nujoma’s surprise announcement meant that even his closest politburo colleagues were not consulted beforehand.
”If it had been a collective leadership decision, fine, but the way it was announced, not even the politburo members knew about this in advance. Nujoma will take all power with him to the chairmanship,” The Namibian newspaper quoted Diescho as saying.
Swapo secretary general Ngarikutuke Tjiriange declined to comment except to confirm that the party was studying proposals to amend Swapo’s constitution.