Gerson Sindano was sworn in yesterday as a commissioner of the Electoral Commission of Namibia by Deputy Judge President Hosea Angula at the High Court of Namibia.
Sindano replaced Joram Rukambe, who last year declined the appointment.
The ECN Commission is chaired by Elsie Nghikembua.
The new ECN commissioner is a full-time English lecturer at the University of Namibia Rundu Campus.
“The commissioners are part time and attend to meetings as required. Only during elections where you will find that they will come in and be at the ECN head office at least two weeks before an election to ensure that everything is in order for the election process,” said ECN’s corporate communications and marketing manager Lina Ndengu.
“Remember there was an advert last year through the National Assembly. They did the sorting then they assigned a committee that executed the interviews, then they chose our current chairperson and Dr [Emmerentia] Leonard, and there was Rukambe but he basically declined the position, so they had to replace him. The next person on the list was the newly appointed commissioner, Dr Sindano,’’ Ndengu noted.
“It’s a huge task, which involves directing, organising, supervising and monitoring elections. Apart from that, just to make ECN a better institution, make it transparent and to be able to expand it,’’ said the new commissioner Sindano.
“My focus, for example, is more on alienation and voters’ empathy to see how best we can make this institution the best it should be – simply to run elections,’’ he said.
When ECN launched their strategic plan earlier this year for 2022-2025, the institution said it was difficult for them to become independent.
Sindano feels the same but supports the notion of ECN becoming fully independent for effectiveness.
“Yes, this is all over the world what happens in most cases; once you are not independent, people begin to question the functions of the institution because of your connection to government, so I support the institution to be independent because that way you can stand on your own feet and you execute without any interference or political interference,’’ he said just after he was sworn in.
- jmuyamba@nepc.com.na