Auleria Wakudumo
A group of constituency IT field support officials who were appointed for 36 days during last month’s election have expressed dissatisfaction with the Electoral Commission of Namibia, claiming they were not paid what was agreed between the parties.
The affected group told New Era they signed contracts to work from 9 November to 6 December 2024 for a payment of N$541 per day.
This amount was applicable on weekdays, weekends and public holidays.
According to the group, the commission never informed them of any changes until some of them were paid recently, only to discover that the amount they received was not what was agreed upon.
When they apparently tried to contact the ECN’s human resources officer, assuming it was a system error, they later received a letter from ECN stating that there had been a mistake in their contract, and the correct payment should have been N$512 per day.
They claim the ECN never discussed this change in rates with them.
Commenting on the issue, ECN spokesperson De Wet Siluka confirmed the authenticity of the letter, stating it was issued on 12 December to inform the affected group that an error had been discovered regarding the temporary employees’ daily contract they had signed.
“However, the employees were informed on their WhatsApp groups about the payments. We made these changes in accordance with Section 16 (2) of the Public Service Act, No. 13 of 1995, in order to correct the error,” he said.
Employees said they performed their duties based on the rate agreed upon before commencing the work. They asked why the ECN is only picking up the error after paying some employees already.
One frustrated employee said the pay reduction will have a significant financial impact on him, as he had made financial plans.
“I borrowed money to support myself during the period, as we weren’t paid for the duration of work, and I need to pay back the money. How can we be told it was a mistake? Why should we suffer for their error? It’s their mistake, not ours,” he said.