Lahja Nashuuta
Hundreds of prisoners are expected to line up at voting booths when the country holds its much-anticipated Presidential and National Assembly elections on 27 November 2024.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) on Thursday deployed a mobile team to different correctional services’ facilities and police holding cells to ensure inmates who are eligible to vote in this year’s general elections, are registered to do so.
The number of inmates who have registered to vote is yet to be confirmed, but the ECN has recorded a good turnout for the first time, and hopes more prisoners will vote this year.
There are about 6 500 inmates in correctional services’ facilities, and an unknown number of prisoners on remand in police holding cells across the country.
Wearing the bright orange prison uniform, an inmate at the Windhoek Correctional Facility, Marvin Jacob, believes that although he is serving a term, he still has the right to elect representatives in government.
Currently serving a 25-year jail term, he maintained that by casting his vote, he is not only bringing hope to his own family, but also to fellow inmates.
“Although I’m incarcerated, it’s my right to vote at the end of the day, and it’s the vote that will decide who to govern me and the country at large. Besides that, I need to vote because I have left family members out there, my partner and my children who need better service delivery. And my vote is for their benefit as well,” he stressed.
Another inmate, Robert Efenge Ferestines, thanked the government for including all eligible voters in this year’s voters’ registration exercise.
“I decided to register to vote because I strongly believe it is the democratic right of every Namibian to vote. I am aware that in many countries across the world, prisoners are not afforded the right to vote. But at least here in Namibia, we are treated equally when it comes to democratically-elected leaders,” he said.
Ngatujame Katjitundu, the ECN registration official at the Windhoek Correctional Facility’s registration centre, told New Era that more than 250 inmates have registered since the commencement of the General Registration of Voters (GRV) on 3 June 2024.
The ECN’s preliminary statistics during the first week of the GRV (3-8 June 2024) show that a total number of 187 171 eligible Namibians had registered inside the country and at all Namibian diplomatic missions abroad. That figure represents an average of 31 195 registered voters per day over a six-day period.
Although the turnout could have been higher, Katjitundu noted that several offenders do not keep IDs in their possession, a factor that limits most prisoners from registering.
“We are currently reaching out to families of inmates to deliver Identity Documents (ID) to correctional centres,” said Mulisa Oberts, the senior correctional officer and public relations officer.
“Inmates are Namibians, just like anyone else, and they have the right to vote. Hence, it is important for the Namibian Correctional Services (NCS) to make sure they are registered to do so,” he said.
“We have put up various mediums in our cells such as radio and TV to make sure that the inmates have regular and meaningful access to news, information and entertainment that is freely available outside detention,” Oberts added.
“We have created a conducive environment to enable inmates to register to vote in a safe and controlled setting. I am impressed to see that the voting processes are going well, and I commend the ECN and its officials who are on duty for ensuring the smooth registration of our inmates,” he noted.