RUNDU – Registration officials conducting the General Registration of Voters in the Kavango East Region have observed some community members attempting to register while intoxicated.
This was revealed by the Regional Coordinator of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), Michael Kabwata, during an exclusive interview with New Era on Monday in Rundu. “We are facing some challenges whereby some community members go to the registration points while under the influence of alcohol,” said Kabwata. He was however confident that the registration officials are well trained to deal with such situations. Another problem facing the officials in the region, says Kabwata, is the fact that some community members still do not know which documents are required from them in order to be registered. “Some people turn up with wrong documents such as baptismal cards, we cannot condone such things because we cannot positively identify someone by means of a baptismal card alone,” he said. Although the process started rather slowly, Kabwata told New Era it has now picked up markedly and everything is now proceeding much faster and the public turnout is increasing on a daily basis compared to last week when the registration process commenced.
“There has been no problem in reaching the remote areas, we have covered all the areas that needed to be covered.” He urged every Namibian over the age of 18 to register for the upcoming national elections and to avoid rushing to the registration points at the eleventh hour. “I know there will still be a supplementary voters registration drive, but let us not wait for that time, come now and register,” he appealed. Kabwata, who says he has been a registration official since the very first general elections in 1989, says this time around the process is made easier because it is being done electronically. The general registration of voters commenced on January 15, 2014 and will run until March 2, 2014. The ECN last Friday announced that 25 945 eligible voters acquired voter registration cards countrywide on the first day of registration.
By John Muyamba