PDM accuses IPC of plagiarism 

The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has accused the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) of allegedly copying the official opposition party’s colours in its campaign flyers.
PDM secretary general Manuel Ngaringombe in the letter to IPC national general secretary Christine Aochamus on Wednesday noted the move was deliberate to confuse the electorate ahead of next month’s regional council and local authority elections.

“It has of recent come under our attention that the colours that the IPC is using for election campaign flyers are identical to that of the PDM. The colours of the PDM are defined by a distinct mix of white, blue and red – and this has been the case since the formation of the party some 43 years,” Ngaringombe said.

“It is, therefore, understandable that the electorate has come to define these colours as that of PDM. It is exactly these colours that have come to define the very identity of the PDM.”
He said the IPC, using these exact colours, causes immense confusion among the electorate and could potentially lead to mistaken voting in several instances.

“We remain perplexed as to why the IPC did not, in turn, use several other colours depicted in the IPC logo, such as the gold. The usage of the exact colours of the PDM on the IPC’s campaign flyers seems like a deliberate attempt to confuse voters and sabotage the image of the PDM,” said Ngaringombe.

“We [are], thus, in the good spirit of cooperation request that your party desist from duplicating the colours of the PDM in any sort of campaign material with immediate effect.”
Contacted for comment yesterday, IPC national chairperson Brian Black said the party does not have time to entertain such “nonsense”, adding that he had better things to do.
 “Those are non-issues to us. We have better things to deal with. I thank you,” Black said yesterday.  
- ktjitemisa@nepc.com.na