Christof Maletsky
9 May 2008
THE Omuthiya elections have had to be called off again amidst threats of court action against the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).
The cancellation of the local authority election comes a week after the ECN announced that the polls would be held at Omuthiya on May 16.
The ECN has had to give in to court threats by the Rally for Democracy and Progress after one of its candidates Magnus Nangombe was scrapped from the voters' roll despite being registered "legitimately".
The Namibian has seen the ECN's communication to RDP's lawyers in which the electoral body admits that the date will not meet the statutory requirements for May 16.
A new date for the election will have to be announced.
Attempts to get formal confirmation from the ECN on the decision proved futile, as calls to the acting Director of Elections, Moses Ndjarakana remained unanswered yesterday.
The RDP's lawyers have demanded that ECN start the registration process all over again because the election had been postponed for more than a month.
Youngsters who turned 18 and thus qualified to elect their local authority councillors needed to be added to the voters' roll while the ballot papers with the right date had to be printed.
However, that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Well-placed sources said the May 16 election date proclamation by President Hifikepunye Pohamba was illegal while the appointment of Ndjarakana as acting Director of Elections, following the suspension of Philemon Kanime, was also up for a court challenge.
The ECN allegedly acted illegally when it booted Kanime.
Kanime was appointed by President Pohamba following an endorsement by the National Assembly.
By law only Pohamba was qualified to remove Kanime while Ndjarakana's appointment was also unprocedural.
The electoral law does not provide for the commissioners to appoint someone in an acting capacity.
According to sources, this was only one of the main reasons why the ECN had withdrawn the suspensions of Chief Control Officer Hesekiel Shigwedha and Chief System Administrator Nicodemus Mingelus.
Both were public servants seconded by the Public Service Commission of Namibia to work at the ECN and thus the ECN had no power to discipline them.
The ECN placed Kanime, his deputy Ananias Elago, Shigwedha and Mingelus on indefinite suspension in March following the "messy" Omuthiya election preparations.
Elections were scheduled to be held at Omuthiya on February 29 but were dramatically called off at the last minute amidst accusations of inefficiency, questions of loyalty and claims of political interference.
Although the Namibian labour law states that a person must be charged within 14 days of suspension, two months later Kanime and Elago have yet to be charged.
Approached for comment yesterday, RDP President Hidipo Hamutenya said they would wait and see what steps the ECN would take before making their next move.
"Our lawyers are ready to act.
We won't let go.
We will kick them all the way," Hamutenya said.
Launching a broadside at the ECN, he said the ECN had not checked everything properly.
"They are ever eager to please Swapo.
The ECN does not have people of standing dignity.
It is a bunch of people played around by Swapo.
The Swapo Youth League called for Kanime's head and they did it.
Namibia needs a ECN with integrity and credibility," he said.
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