Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) Chairperson, Notemba Tjipueja, said the commission has proposed to government to review various electoral acts that needs to be in line with the country’s constitution, in order to function optimally.
Tjipueja made these remarks on Thursday when ECN commissioners met with President Hage Geingob at State House to discuss the commissioners’ work during their tenure, which ends this month.
She said when the constitutional amendment was passed, the Electoral Act was not in line with the constitution and it caused contradictions and confusion. Therefore, the commission is seeking government’s support to enable the Electoral Act to be implemented in line with the constitution.
‘There are other legislation which are not in line with the constitutional amendment. That is the Public Service Act, which at the moment provides that the Electoral Commission of Namibia is an agency of government. Therefore, there is some contradiction between the Electoral Act and the Public Service Act. Clearly in terms of the Electoral Act, we are supposed to be able to appoint our own staff and this is in contradiction with the present Public Service Act,” said Tjipueja.
She added that there was a legal opinion from the Attorney General that supported the constitutional amendment, which shows that it can be done in terms of the legal framework. Therefore, the commission is current reviewing a number of acts that need to be amended to ensure that the commission moves away from being a government agency and work independently for the sake of transparency and avoid interference from the executive.
“There is also a need to look at the Procurement Act so that we would be able to procure sensitive equipment and we will not be held up by various legal processes that may delay the procurement of electoral equipment, especially during the times of elections,’ stated Tjipueja.
On his part, Geingob said in a democratic country like Namibia, government will never interfere in the work of ECN, and he advocated for ECN’s independence when he was Prime Minister.
“When I was prime minister, ECN was under the Office of the Prime Minister and I was the one pushing for it to be out of the office and operate independently,” said Geingob.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency
