Veteran politician and National Democratic Party (NDP) president Martin Lukato has called for an indaba for opposition parties to converge to form a coalition movement ahead of the 2024 general election.
Lukato made this call in a recent interview which covered a myriad of issues pertaining to the local political landscape, his NDP vision and contemporary social issues.
The Zambezi Region Queensland-based politician is convinced Namibia is at an epoch, where, if opposition parties join forces, “they can take over the government”.
Achieving this mammoth task of unseating the ruling party Swapo will require the opposition to hold a congress this year where all issues should be discussed, he said.
“We cannot wait until 2024 to form a formidable coalition movement. This is the time to host a national conference. This thing of coming up with coalition talks at the last minute is an exercise dead on arrival,” Lukato said.
According to him, it is only through a coalition government that the mistakes of the past 31 years under the Swapo-led government can be rectified.
“We need a clean opposition. So those who are responsible for collapsing this country will not be part of us,” he said.
Popular Democratic Movement’s McHenry Venaani is another staunch activist for a coalition government in 2024.
He told Nampa that Namibia is at a crossroads and that an opposition-led coalition government should be formed.
Venaani, like Lukato, opined that opposition parties stand a great chance to form the next government.
“This is the only season, mind you, in the political atmosphere of our country where the opposition, if they play the game right and consolidate, could form the next government,” Venaani said.
Independent Patriots for Change leader Panduleni Itula has also been flirting with the coalition idea.
“The challenges Namibia faces are much more difficult to solve than one political party can imagine,” Itula was quoted as saying recently, adding that if the IPC and other parties assume power in 2024, meritocracy will prevail over partisan politics in the appointment of political office bearers.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
