And a gym?

Namibia is an awesome country, we are geographically well placed, just in the right place in Southern Africa. West enough for our majestic Namib desert to meet the sea, and Just North enough to share the Cunene River with Angola. Not too Far East, else we would be landlocked, and not too far south or we would end up being a province in South Africa. Which we were for a while, and by that I mean for at least sixty years we were under Apartheid rule, South Africa was the KFC franchise and we were the drive through. 

We’re also not a bad republic, we’ve been independent for 26 years, and we’ve had 3 democratically elected presidents, who have all finished their terms (Yes. It can actually happen in Africa). So we’re a relatively peaceful and politically stable country, a great option for foreign investors, and one of the world’s most unique tourist attractions. We export beer, biltong, and happiness (see faces of smiling tourists leaving airport).  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect. No country is, except maybe Sweden (They make Volvos). Income and social inequality is amongst the highest in the world, the lack of urban housing stands at crisis point, and our Police Force still hasn’t found our version of Oscar Pistorius: Lazarus Shaduka.

My point is: Namibians generally don’t get riled up and protest like our southern neighbours. We’re a tranquil society, which is a nice way of saying we’re too scared to protest. However, over the last two months, Namibians from all walks of life have started expressing mumbles of dissatisfaction. The bone of discontent has centred particularly on one thing, the proposed new Parliament building.

The current parliament building: the Tintepalast, is old. It’s small, and with our newly expanded parliament structure, there is a lack of office space. As someone who shares an office with colleagues, who are so distracting that I mentally practice spells I memorized from Harry Potter movies on them, I appreciate the Members of Parliament’s (MP’s) need for more office space. As the work of our MP’s is of great importance, because they make great laws for us (when they're not sleeping, or missing from debates), their need for office space should be prioritized. Then there are the obvious security and logistical concerns, the current building is too central, and too easily accessible (as parliament should be). Taking into account that we’ve adopted the South African trend of removing monuments of the colonial regime, and renaming almost everything, it’s understandable. 

The new building, dubbed ‘Welwitchia’ after the flower−like plant found in the Namib Desert, whose  longevity is only challenged by Robert Mugabe, offers more office space (400 to be exact), larger chambers (can accommodate 300 lawmakers), and technological advancements etc. It has amongst other things: an amphitheatre, a restaurant, a clinic, and a GYM as part of the wellness centre. Yes, you read right. A gym! Having started out to pen an objective article, free of sarcastic drivel, I lost it when I read the word ‘gym’. My inner sarcastic hulk was unleashed.

 “A freaking gym?” What for? Have you seen the extended waistlines on the average Namibian Parliamentarian? Their tummies have more folds than the back of Jacob Zuma’s head. They’re better off building in a weight loss centre. I haven’t even gotten to the part about the price tag, 2.4 billion Namibian dollars (Probably inflated for the tenderprenuers to make enough for the new C63 AMG). The Millenium Challenge Compact (MCC) renovated 48 schools for 600 million Namibian dollars, that means with the new parliament building budget you can renovate and equip 3 times as many schools (158) with laboratories and libraries. No wonder Namibians are getting riled up, we've clearly need to get our priorities straight. Building a lavish new parliament building would be rewarding laziness. There is never quorum in the house, the MP’s are always sleeping, with no regard for the watching television cameras. If they want new digs, they need to shape up, literally and figuratively. Currently their scoring an F for FAIL.

With a devastating drought threatening to cripple our farming sector and our capital city’s water supply, and also threatening food security of subsistence farmers, a luxury parliament building is not a priority. This is what perhaps is not clear to the government, who have vehemently defended the project, with all its bells and whistles. Just as the incumbent President Hage Geingob, stated that people do not eat nice constitutions, they neither eat luxurious parliament buildings. Having pinned his legacy on poverty alleviation, this 2.4 billion dollar project doesn’t seem to fit into it. There’s a glaring incongruence between the President’s walk and his talk.

That is why I support #NewParliamentMustFall. I know what you’re thinking, hashtag revolutions have changed nothing in modern history. You might be right, but we don’t need a revolution, we just need the representatives we democratically elected to remember the needs of those who put them there in the first place, and maybe to stop sleeping in parliament. So, on the 16^th of June, thousands of youth will march to protest the construction of the new parliament building (despite the Namibian’s Police’s unconstitutional attempts to stop them), just as the youth of the 70’s protested against Bantu Education. Except of course this time, no bullets will rain down, hopefully.