The Law Reform Development Commission (LRDC) says the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is disenfranchising citizens of their right to vote, ahead of this year’s general elections.
This LRDC’s chairperson Sackey Shangala said due to the its stricter requirement in the ongoing general voters’ registration which requires the presentation of municipal bills or the use of sworn statements for people to register for regional and local authority elections.
The request has also come under fire from the public, especially those in informal settlements who could not be registered when they failed to provide the required water and electricity because they do not pay rates and taxes.
Requesting prospective voters to provide these documents made it things difficult for those in the Namibian Defence Force, Police and Correctional Services serving at various stations across the country.
Also persons at in hostels at educational and other training institutions, which are not necessarily they local or regional council area were they originally reside are said to be have been denied to register.
Shangala is his team are currently sitting with recommendations to the country’s electoral law as part of its Electoral Law Reform Project and such had to be implemented before the start of this round of registrations.
But Shangala claimed that Kawana instructed his office to consolidate all of draft bills into a single Electoral Matters Bill and this has cause the delay in the finalisation of the document. He added that the process in on-going and at an advanced stage.
Last month the ECN reportedly accused Shangala of misleading ministers and advising them not to endorse the recommendations to do away with municipal bills and the use of sworn statements as requirements for registering.
This was after Shangala allegedly wrote the ECN to request the election body to allow Namibians to be registered without the municipal bills.
This week Shangala said that the allegation that he misled ministers is tantamount to an undermining of the intelligence of the government officials.
The ministers include Prime Minister Dr Hage Geingob, Presidential Affairs Ministers Dr Albert Kawana, Utoni Nujoma of Justice, deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Dr Elia Kaiyamo.
“It should be emphasised that the above members of Parliament emphatically rejected the proposition that sworn statements be jettisoned,” said Shangala.
According to Shangala this was because as politicians they realised that their voting members would be disenfranchised or denied the right to vote.
“The message given to the ECN was that for both purposes of proving citizenships and residence, perhaps the time has not come for doing away with sworn statements.”
He added that he was surprised to learn in the media that the ECN has ‘prescribed stricter’ requirements which has resulted in citizens experiencing difficulty when registering.
“It is really regrettable that the ECN conduct potentially disenfranchises citizens of their right to vote.”
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