By Josephat Inambao Sinvula
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) loves to call itself the “alternative government.” Yet when asked what it has done for the social development of Namibians with the public money it receives, its answer has been about rules, not results.
A Question Left Hanging
Official Opposition Leader Imms Nashinge has publicly stated that party funding is for parliamentary democracy in line with Electoral Commission of Namibia rules, not for development projects. Legally, that may be so. Politically, it is the answer of a party that has mastered talk but cannot point to a tangible record in communities.
Public Money, Public Accountability
Let us be factual. IPC holds 20 seats in the National Assembly. Based on reported seat values of about N$0.96 million to N$1.1 million a year, IPC receives an estimated N$19 to N$22 million a year from the public purse, allocated in proportion to its seats under the Electoral Act 5 of 2014.
What social problem has it solved with that platform? Which informal settlement has it upgraded? Which youth unemployment programme has it funded? Which pensioner, drought-stricken farmer or unemployed graduate can point to IPC and say it helped them? So far, none has been named.
Oversight or Obstruction?
What IPC has put on show instead is, in my view, obstruction dressed up as accountability. In my view as a regular viewer of NBC Parliament debates, too many sessions have been taken up by procedural points and political statements while laws on housing, health, education and job creation wait. That is not oversight. It is obstruction.
A true opposition meets government halfway. It brings workable alternative policies, not just noise, and uses its platform to mobilise communities for development rather than to campaign permanently. IPC’s shadow cabinet and its budget critiques are a start, but criticism alone is not an alternative programme.
The Leader Outside the House
The illusion is also visible at the top. IPC president Panduleni Itula announced in 2024 that he would not be on the party’s National Assembly list, which was gazetted on 3 January without his name. IPC says dual candidacy breaches the rule of law and Itula said he did not want the opposition leader salary.
In my view, that is insecurity, not principle. Analyst Rui Tyitende has offered a different reading, that the aim is to avoid a second centre of power inside IPC. Whatever the reason, the leader of the self-styled alternative government sits outside the very House where national development is debated, while others speak for him inside.
Slogans Cannot Feed a Family
You cannot eat slogans. You cannot live in a press statement.
The Fair Test
Swapo, with all its faults, has governed since independence, and the schools, clinics, roads and social grants delivered came through the national budget. IPC has never held that budget. So the fair test is narrower: what has IPC done with the party funding it does receive, and with the platform that funding supports?
The verdict so far: the main opposition has yet to show any contribution to Namibia’s social development agenda.
Josephat Inambao Sinvula is a Public Policy and Development Analyst based in Oshana Region and a SWAPO member writing in his personal capacity.
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