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Home / Debate starts on extending voters registration
Debate starts on extending voters registration
2014-02-05Mathias Haufiku "WINDHOEK – Calls to extend the voters registration period have emerged as the Law Reform and Development Commission passes the buck to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) for failing to follow through on proposals to introduce alternative methods as proof of residency during registration for regional and local authority elections. Despite the hiccups in the registration of voters, where municipal water or electricity bills are required, yesterday the Law Reform and Development Commission, as well as political commentators said there is no need for an extension, because there is still a supplementary registration scheduled for later in the year before the country goes to the polls in November. It was only the deputy secretary general of Nudo, Vetaruhe Kandorozu, who is also the party spokesperson on the elections, who spoke out in favour of extending the current registration period. “Cabinet must pass a recommendation to the President calling for the General Voters Registration period to be extended, because of all the mess that has taken place,” Kandorozu said yesterday. He said another justification for extending the registration period is that many people in a number of villages are yet to be registered, because of the constant breakdown of ECN vehicles, the shortage of officials with ICT skills, as well as faulty registration equipment. He said the ECN should assume responsibility and take the blame for all the present hiccups experienced in the voter registration process instead of trying to pin the blame on Shanghala. Kandorozu is also the Nudo councillor for the Okakarara constituency. “The Act is clear, hence, when the Act is passed by Parliament it cannot be [reformed] until a request is made. The ECN should implement it as it is and set up guidelines in accordance with the Act. The Law Reform and Development Commission only comes in when there are amendments that need to be made,” said Kandorozu. There has been extensive public debate and condemnation of the requirement of municipal bills as proof of residency when registering for regional and local authority elections, and the low number of people registered so far – about 300 000 people. Voter registration ends on March 02. Law Reform and Development Commission chairman Sacky Shanghala yesterday distanced himself from the requirements debacle, which is likely to deny many citizens the right to vote, saying there was a proposal for the ECN to exercise its power to prescribe additional dcouments, statements, certificates or accounts, as proof of residency. Members of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) could for instance have provide affidavits from their commanding officer that they are stationed in a particular constituency. Students could have used official statements that prove registration with an academic institution, while residents of informal settlements could have made use of sworn statements deposed in the presence of a commissioner of oaths or justice. The ECN has blamed the Law Reform and Development Commission for misleading ministers and advising them not to endorse the recommendations to do away with municipal bills as a requirement for registration. The commission did however “reject the proposal of amending the Namibian Constitution to do away with residence as no credible proposal in the alternative was advanced by the ECN and because there are other administrative measures within the realm of regulation and form prescription, which the EC can have recourse to without tampering with the constitutional principle of residency,” Shanghala said in a statement issued late on Monday. However, the commission also made alternative proposals to the ECN and chastised the ECN for being “unable to craft and prescribe the appropriate documentation for purposes of proving residency.” Political commentator and Executive Director for the Institute of Public Policy Research Graham Hopwood has attributed the problems to delays in passing a new Electoral Act. Hopwood says the issues should have been clarified in a new bill and regulations already. “Nationwide consultations about a new electoral law took place in the first half of 2012, so it’s difficult to understand why we are still waiting for the bill in 2014,” he said. Hopwood, nevertheless says there would be a need to extend the supplementary voters registration period, under a clearer law, so that those who are currently being disadvantaged by the extant requirements would still have a chance to register. “The current confusion is unfortunate, but the ECN will not be able to change the procedures halfway through the general registration,” he said. Shanghala says there is no need for an extension, because there will be a supplementary registration before the country goes to the polls in November. “If that is to happen, the electoral commission needs to consult the president and then decide upon it. But I do not see the need for an extension, because there is still ample time before the registration process ends,” Shanghala said. By Mathias Haufiku" 2014-02-05Mathias Haufiku
