The former Omuthiya councillor Armas Amukoto says he it is not a secret that he voted for the independent presidential candidate Dr Panduleni Itula and for the Swapo Party last year.

Some people, Amukoto said, voted for Dr Itula yet they were pretending to like Geingob.

Amukoto, who had a heated standoff with the Oshikoto regional coordinator Armas Amukwiyu on Saturday when he was disqualified from running as the Omuthiya coordinator, said he knows of many Swapo members who also supported Dr Itula but voted Swapo.

One of those, according to Amukoto, is Amukwiyu. Amukoto said Amukwiyu once filled up his car tank when they met at a service station during the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

“If Swapo wants to expel people, they will have to look at about 300 000 or even 400 000,” Amukoto said.

Although he voted for Dr Itula, Amukoto said he has confidence in Geingob.

When Dr Itula lost, Amukoto said, he stopped supporting him. Even if Dr Itula starts a political party, Amukoto explained, he would not follow him because he is a Swapo member.

He said there is nothing wrong in supporting another candidate as long as it is not a political party.

According to Amukoto, the Oshikoto governor, Penda ya Ndakolo, could have been behind the removal of his name from three lists thereby depriving him of opportunities.

With Ya Ndakolo, he understood why this could be happening because of cattle the former defence minister took and donated to a wedding.

The cattle had been donated to the party through the Omuthiya district about 6 years ago. He said Ya Ndakolo has not paid for the cattle.

But with Amukwiyu, Amukoto said he does not understand why there are issues.

“There were people telling me that my namesake seemed to have issues with me, but I dismissed them. I even almost fought a family member who told me that Armas has issues with me.
“I was Armas’ campaign manager when he wanted to be re-elected for the regional coordinator’s position in 2017 as Team Swapo,” Amukoto said, further claiming that some people approached him to run against Amukwiyu, but he refused.

He added that the Swapo teams that almost split the party prior to the 2017 elective congress were still alive and well in the regions.

Swapo grappled with Team Harambee and Team Swapo that saw party heavyweights such as Pendukeni Ivula-Ithana, Helmut Angula, Jerry Ekandjo and Nahas Angula being purged later on.

At the time, Dr Itula was Helmut Angula’s campaign manager during the Team Swapo bid.
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