SPYL hijacked Russia trip - DTA
The DTA youth league has slammed the National Youth Council and the Swapo youth league for last month's chaotic trip to Russia.
DTA youth league secretary-general Benson Katjirijova has accused the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) of hijacking 2017 World Festival of Youth and Students to lobby support for President Hage Geingob.
Geingob is contesting Swapo old-timers Jerry Ekandjo and Nahas Angula for the Swapo presidency during the party's elective congress this month.
At a press conference held yesterday Katjirijova, one of the 172 delegates who travelled to Sochi, Russia, last month to attend the youth conference, said Swapo must explain why 95% of the delegates were members of the ruling party.
“There were only a few from the opposition parties: five from DTA, one from Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) and one from Nudo and the rest from Swapo,” he said.
Last month Namibian Sun reported that the government had to foot a bill of over N$5 million for the trip.
The National Youth Council (NYC), which organised the trip, chartered an aircraft from Air Namibia to fly the delegation directly to Russia from Hosea Kutako International Airport.
According to Katjirijova, things were shaky from the start due to a lack of organisation and communication with Air Namibia.
“After our arrival at the airport in Russia, we had struggles with accommodation because the Russian Federation was only expecting 100 delegates from Namibia. The question is where did the other 72 delegates come from,” he asked.
He added that the 72 delegates “roamed the corridors” of conference halls because they were not accredited and could not attend the festival proceedings.
He also took issue with the fact that the tracksuits the delegates received from the Russian Federation sported the SPYL logo instead of the NYC's.
“It was clearly a Swapo affair. Some of us were deliberately excluded from mini-meetings they held on the sidelines.
There were some people that spoke about Jerry Ekandjo and they were threatened to keep quiet and told 'Hage brought you here, why are you talking about Ekandjo',” said Katjirijova.
NYC spokesman Brian Prince referred Namibian Sun to SPYL because the trip was organised in collaboration with the youth league.
SPYL spokesperson Neville Itope could not answer questions yesterday as he was driving.
JEMIMA BEUKES
Geingob is contesting Swapo old-timers Jerry Ekandjo and Nahas Angula for the Swapo presidency during the party's elective congress this month.
At a press conference held yesterday Katjirijova, one of the 172 delegates who travelled to Sochi, Russia, last month to attend the youth conference, said Swapo must explain why 95% of the delegates were members of the ruling party.
“There were only a few from the opposition parties: five from DTA, one from Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) and one from Nudo and the rest from Swapo,” he said.
Last month Namibian Sun reported that the government had to foot a bill of over N$5 million for the trip.
The National Youth Council (NYC), which organised the trip, chartered an aircraft from Air Namibia to fly the delegation directly to Russia from Hosea Kutako International Airport.
According to Katjirijova, things were shaky from the start due to a lack of organisation and communication with Air Namibia.
“After our arrival at the airport in Russia, we had struggles with accommodation because the Russian Federation was only expecting 100 delegates from Namibia. The question is where did the other 72 delegates come from,” he asked.
He added that the 72 delegates “roamed the corridors” of conference halls because they were not accredited and could not attend the festival proceedings.
He also took issue with the fact that the tracksuits the delegates received from the Russian Federation sported the SPYL logo instead of the NYC's.
“It was clearly a Swapo affair. Some of us were deliberately excluded from mini-meetings they held on the sidelines.
There were some people that spoke about Jerry Ekandjo and they were threatened to keep quiet and told 'Hage brought you here, why are you talking about Ekandjo',” said Katjirijova.
NYC spokesman Brian Prince referred Namibian Sun to SPYL because the trip was organised in collaboration with the youth league.
SPYL spokesperson Neville Itope could not answer questions yesterday as he was driving.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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