OTJOMBINDE – Omaheke regional electoral officer Joseph Amwaandi has strongly denied allegations of corruption in the recruitment of polling officers in Otjombinde.

The allegations claim that the Otjombinde returning officer improperly recruited individuals to fill vacant positions left by those who did not report for duty, and that people were being added to the recruitment list in exchange for money. This reportedly angered individuals who were already on the official waiting list for these vacant posts.

In response on Wednesday, Amwaandi, who is the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) head in the region, dismissed the corruption allegations as “not true and misleading.

“After hearing about these issues, I went to Otjombinde and found out that the returning officer only wrote down the names of people who were waiting outside. The recruitment is done by the human resources department, and there is no way it can be done outside our policy,” he said. Amwaandi clarified that the ECN’s HR department maintains a database of people on the official waiting list for use when vacant positions arise. 

“I also found out that those who were waiting outside the hall were in the ECN database,” he confirmed.

Regarding the specific allegations of payments in exchange for a position, Amwaandi stated the matter is beyond his jurisdiction. “It is difficult for me to investigate, and the victims must report the matter to the Namibian Police,” he said.

Otjombinde had a total of 150 positions for polling officials and out of these positions, 34 failed to turn up, and 26 were subsequently replaced.

Amwaandi further noted that all individuals who underwent ECN training will write an assessment test on Thursday (13 November) to finalise the selection of those who will fill the remaining vacant positions. -Nampa