By: Andrew Kathindi
The journey to replace incumbent Ombudsman John Walters began on Friday morning 27 August with a public interview conducted by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
The three candidates were interviewed by Chief Justice Peter Shivute, as well as Commissioners, Deputy Chief Justice, Petrus Damaseb, the Attorney General, Festus Mbandeka, Advocate Vicki Erenstein ya Toivo and Advocate Sacky Akweenda. Ruth Herunga Herunga is a founder of the Namibian Women Lawyers Association which she argued was to assist the vulnerable in society. She is a lawyer by profession.
She is also a board member of Fishcor and is the interim CEO at the state-owned enterprise. On her view of the Ombudsman’s role in the country, she said, “That position plays a vital role in terms of preventing the state from gaining absolute power without having the controls and constrains in place.
If the public is to have confidence in the office of the Ombudsman, then the constrains should be in place.” Quizzed by the Chief Justice Shivute on whether the office of the Ombudsman being under the ministry of Justice posed a threat or an opportunity, Herunga answered, “it is a threat in the sense of the independence of the office. The Office Ombudsman’s budget is currently controlled by the ministry of Justice.
“The Ombudsman has said in several interviews that he does not have a budget, so he’s not able to plan properly. It is my that the office should be completely independent and operates on its own.” According to Herunga, the constitution and the Ombudsman act does not make any provisions for human rights promotion. Herunga, in her interview, argued that the office should operate away from any branch of government. “I would use the power to approach courts more when I have to wait for a very long time to get a response from officials.” The assistance that is required is to provide the Ombudsman with adequate resources. Tousy Namiseb Tousy Namiseb is the Secretary to National Council, a position he has served since 2019.
He also worked as Chief of Law Reform at the Ministry of Justice for ten years from 2006 until 2016 and during the same period was also secretary of the Namibian Law Reform Commission. In his interview, he stated, “One of the key mandates of the Ombudsman Act are human rights and administrative justice, which deals with maladministration. The Ombudsman act when it comes to human rights perspective is not complete.
In matters where we have moved from the classification of the human rights from first, second and third generation, where different enforcement mechanisms are in place, the Ombudsman act provides for protection of chapter three rights.” He said the non-judicial rights, which are captured as principles of state policy are not covered under the chapter three rights.
“When we want to take human rights as interconnected right, there is a need to amend the legal framework on that aspect. Some of these, he says, are social economic rights which include the right to food, access to water, education. But because of certain economic situation a person cannot access right to health.” He said the act as it stands perpetuates a scenario where the country still gives “fragmented enforcement” of human rights.
Basilius Dyakugha Dyakugha was born in the Kavango region and went to school at Andara Combined School. He is the Chief of law reform in the ministry of Justice and also serves as a secretariat at the law reform and development commission. Dyakugha headed the Law Reform and Development Commission which in may this year handed over to Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab, two reports regarding absolute laws, part of which was the abolishment of the common law offences of sodomy and unnatural sexual offences. The reports were later submitted to cabinet for review.
He was previously heading the division of human rights and international law in the ministry of Justice. Quizzed by Deputy Chief Damaseb on his potential measures to deal with the problems of the voiceless, Dyakugha stated, “Our problem is not there is no solution but we are not thinking and coming up with suggestions on how to solve the problem. I will approach the relevant line ministries to present my suggestions with the experienced that I have gained through politics.” He said part of solving homelessness in the country could be through giving them fishing quotas through private companies.
