Today, Oct. 24th, is the United Nations Day. Quite embarrassing, but I have to admit that I don’t know much about this special day, although I am working with the UN at the moment. (Will conduct a bit research later, I promise.) However, I did get the whole day off as a result. So, in order to make this day more eventful, I booked a tour to visit the Parliament Building of Namibia. It turned out to be a really informative and interesting experience, especially when you compare that with what you would expect from the Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
The tour around the building was supposed to start at 10am. Me and Fiona were there on time and only found that the person who is responsible was busy, although I did make a phone call to book the tour the day before. Fortunately, he did show up 10 minutes later and we found that we were the only two visitors. Anyways, it was a great tour and David, who was our guide, was very patient and knowledgeable in his domain. The Parliament building is not immense in size and splendid in nature, however, it does provide a comfortable home for 72 members representing seven political parties. The building itself is a book telling the colonized and independence history of Namibia.
The Tintenpalast, now the Parliament building, was designed by architect Gottlieb Redecker and built in 1912 to 1913 as the administrative headquarters for German South-West Africa. The name literally means “Ink Palace”, which honours the ink spent on the typically bureaucratic paperwork it generated. The building was altered (mainly the roof) and extended after the independence since it was deemed as “being too German”. In front of the building, there is a beautiful garden, where various foreign plants live – there are no local plants in this garden, interestingly. On the lawn in front of the building sits Windhoek’s first post-independence monument, which depicts Herero chief Hosea Kutako who is known for his vociferous opposition to South African rule. (The guy I was hugging in the photo.) Actually, the Windhoek international airport was named after him.
We also went inside the Chamber, where debates and discussions are carried among MPs. Funnily enough, we were allowed to take photos and even sat on the chair of the Speaker. (As you can see from the photos, I was holding the hammer in my hand and sitting with Fiona in the powerful seat.) We actually came back in the afternoon in the same room, but were up on the second level to listen to the debate of Namibian issues among MPs. The general impression of the process was that Namibians do things in a quite informal and layback way. For example, the session was supposed to start at 2:30pm, while it didn’t until 2:45pm. And, it was hard to hear people in that room, since there was quite some noise around because of people talking or flipping of papers. Even more, two of the four proposed issues for the session could not be discussed, due to the absence of key members. Oh well, and more, after I had a nap on my chair and finally decided to leave and went to the Parliament Restaurant, the MPs followed shortly for their break and didn’t seem to leave even the alarm was ringing to resume the session. And, if you must let me compare the debates between that of Namibian and Canada, I have to tell you that Canadian politicians’ debates are far more exciting and entertaining. However, you really could feel the intimacy of MPs to you, people could just talk to MPs directly almost anywhere in the building, it’s not like MPs are protected from civilians and use their own routes in the Parliament in Canada. Also, you can request to meet with any MP face-to-face if you don’t agree with or want to contribute to issues interested to you in a specified room – Lobby Room – for this purpose. Democracy is a great thing and I am glad for Namibians to be able to finally enjoy this right in their own country.
The tour around the building was supposed to start at 10am. Me and Fiona were there on time and only found that the person who is responsible was busy, although I did make a phone call to book the tour the day before. Fortunately, he did show up 10 minutes later and we found that we were the only two visitors. Anyways, it was a great tour and David, who was our guide, was very patient and knowledgeable in his domain. The Parliament building is not immense in size and splendid in nature, however, it does provide a comfortable home for 72 members representing seven political parties. The building itself is a book telling the colonized and independence history of Namibia.
The Tintenpalast, now the Parliament building, was designed by architect Gottlieb Redecker and built in 1912 to 1913 as the administrative headquarters for German South-West Africa. The name literally means “Ink Palace”, which honours the ink spent on the typically bureaucratic paperwork it generated. The building was altered (mainly the roof) and extended after the independence since it was deemed as “being too German”. In front of the building, there is a beautiful garden, where various foreign plants live – there are no local plants in this garden, interestingly. On the lawn in front of the building sits Windhoek’s first post-independence monument, which depicts Herero chief Hosea Kutako who is known for his vociferous opposition to South African rule. (The guy I was hugging in the photo.) Actually, the Windhoek international airport was named after him.
We also went inside the Chamber, where debates and discussions are carried among MPs. Funnily enough, we were allowed to take photos and even sat on the chair of the Speaker. (As you can see from the photos, I was holding the hammer in my hand and sitting with Fiona in the powerful seat.) We actually came back in the afternoon in the same room, but were up on the second level to listen to the debate of Namibian issues among MPs. The general impression of the process was that Namibians do things in a quite informal and layback way. For example, the session was supposed to start at 2:30pm, while it didn’t until 2:45pm. And, it was hard to hear people in that room, since there was quite some noise around because of people talking or flipping of papers. Even more, two of the four proposed issues for the session could not be discussed, due to the absence of key members. Oh well, and more, after I had a nap on my chair and finally decided to leave and went to the Parliament Restaurant, the MPs followed shortly for their break and didn’t seem to leave even the alarm was ringing to resume the session. And, if you must let me compare the debates between that of Namibian and Canada, I have to tell you that Canadian politicians’ debates are far more exciting and entertaining. However, you really could feel the intimacy of MPs to you, people could just talk to MPs directly almost anywhere in the building, it’s not like MPs are protected from civilians and use their own routes in the Parliament in Canada. Also, you can request to meet with any MP face-to-face if you don’t agree with or want to contribute to issues interested to you in a specified room – Lobby Room – for this purpose. Democracy is a great thing and I am glad for Namibians to be able to finally enjoy this right in their own country.
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