Namibian youth hand over petition against new parliament building

More than 1,000 youth signed a petition Thursday against the proposed construction of a new parliament in Namibia.

The youth drawn from all the 14 regions of the country marched from into Windhoek central business district in the morning from the high density suburb of Katutura.

Although the demonstration was peaceful, the youth leaders from the Affirmative Repositioning movement refused to hand over the petition to the clerk of parliament and demanded that the Speaker Peter Katjavivi should come instead.

One of the youth leaders Job Amupanda declared the march a success.

The issue of the new parliament whose cost is estimated to be about 2.2 billion Namibian dollars (142 million U.S dollars) has been criticized by various people with the National Planning Commission saying that the cost appears to have been inflated.

In 2013 when the government announced plans to build the new parliament, the cost was estimated at 700 million Namibian dollars (45 million U.S. dollars) but three years later, it is 2.2 billion Namibian dollars(142 million U.S dollars).

President Hage Geingob in May 2016 also ordered his vice president, prime minister and the Speaker of Parliament to look into the cost.

It is not clear at the present whether the three have done assessing how the cost sprung from 700 million Namibian dollars (45 million U.S. dollars) to 2.2 billion(142 million U.S dollars). Endit