Dark cloud over ECN
Election materials disappearing from the ECN's custody raises great concern about its ability to safeguard national assets, a commentator has said.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has been hit by two major controversies that may bring its credibility into question.
Its technical director Milton Louw is alleged to have tried to sell five laptops belonging to the commission, while it has also emerged that two of the electronic voting machines that fell off a trailer, while under the care of former justice minister Sacky Shanghala in 2017, have been found in Katutura's Havana location.
The EVMs were among those borrowed from the ECN by Shanghala for a Swapo Party Elders Council (SPEC) congress at Outapi.
Chief electoral officer Theo Mujoro, while asked about the EVMs, also confirmed that a case had been opened against Louw.
This was after Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani had claimed on Twitter that Louw had tried to sell the laptops to a second-hand goods retailer.
“There is truth in that. We have opened a case with Nampol. It relates to five laptops. A case has been opened against Louw,” Mujoro said.
Mujoro also told Namibian Sun that the Namibian police had informed them about the EVMs.
“The police called us in to identify the two items found. I can confirm that it is two control units. They were part of the EVMs that we are looking for,” he said.
Mujoro was asked to shed more light on the reappearance of the EVMs.
“I do not know how they were found,” he responded.
He pointed out that two EVMs were still missing.
When asked whether the EVMs' serial numbers could be tampered with, Mujoro said this was not possible.
“There is no possibility. The serial numbers are not pasted outside. The serial numbers are in the memory. They cannot be tampered with,” he said.
Nampol inspector-general Sebastian Ndeitunga confirmed the matter of the EVMs was now under investigation.
According to Ndeitunga, statements were made by those who had discovered the EVMs.
“Their statements have already been taken about where they found them. An investigation by Nampol into the case of the disappearance and reappearance of the EVMs is now underway,” Ndeitunga said.
Aspersions cast
Opposition parties are questioning the results released by the ECN following the 27 November general election.
Late last month the ECN announced that President Hage Geingob had been re-elected for a second term and had garnered 56.3% of the presidential vote, while independent candidate Panduleni Itula had secured 29.4% of the vote.
However, a week later on 5 December 2019, the ECN updated its results for the Windhoek Rural Constituency after confirming that 7 000 votes for Itula had mistakenly been allocated to United Democratic Front (UDF) presidential candidate Apius Auchab.
Venaani in his Twitter post said: “I am receiving reports that apparently an official of the ECN attempted to sell 7 computer laptops at Cash Converters in order to get rid of election evidence. Made to understand that police confiscated the materials. The official is allegedly a certain @miltonlouw.”
Political commentator Frederico Links said: “We should not try and tie this to the elections.”
Links described the ECN as a problematic institution.
“It is one of those incidences that show there is a problem at the ECN. The ECN cannot be considered to be credible, [where] it should be seen as credible, and it does not meet the standard,” Links said.
“Let's hope that there will be a look at the institution and that people are held accountable.”
Academic Ndumba Kamwanyah also did not link the laptops incident to an attempt to purposely get rid of “evidence”.
“It sounds like a usual alleged thievery case, but the way election materials are disappearing from the ECN's custody raises a great concern about the ability of the ECN, as a national electoral body, to safeguard and protect materials of national importance,” he said.
OGONE TLHAGE
Its technical director Milton Louw is alleged to have tried to sell five laptops belonging to the commission, while it has also emerged that two of the electronic voting machines that fell off a trailer, while under the care of former justice minister Sacky Shanghala in 2017, have been found in Katutura's Havana location.
The EVMs were among those borrowed from the ECN by Shanghala for a Swapo Party Elders Council (SPEC) congress at Outapi.
Chief electoral officer Theo Mujoro, while asked about the EVMs, also confirmed that a case had been opened against Louw.
This was after Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani had claimed on Twitter that Louw had tried to sell the laptops to a second-hand goods retailer.
“There is truth in that. We have opened a case with Nampol. It relates to five laptops. A case has been opened against Louw,” Mujoro said.
Mujoro also told Namibian Sun that the Namibian police had informed them about the EVMs.
“The police called us in to identify the two items found. I can confirm that it is two control units. They were part of the EVMs that we are looking for,” he said.
Mujoro was asked to shed more light on the reappearance of the EVMs.
“I do not know how they were found,” he responded.
He pointed out that two EVMs were still missing.
When asked whether the EVMs' serial numbers could be tampered with, Mujoro said this was not possible.
“There is no possibility. The serial numbers are not pasted outside. The serial numbers are in the memory. They cannot be tampered with,” he said.
Nampol inspector-general Sebastian Ndeitunga confirmed the matter of the EVMs was now under investigation.
According to Ndeitunga, statements were made by those who had discovered the EVMs.
“Their statements have already been taken about where they found them. An investigation by Nampol into the case of the disappearance and reappearance of the EVMs is now underway,” Ndeitunga said.
Aspersions cast
Opposition parties are questioning the results released by the ECN following the 27 November general election.
Late last month the ECN announced that President Hage Geingob had been re-elected for a second term and had garnered 56.3% of the presidential vote, while independent candidate Panduleni Itula had secured 29.4% of the vote.
However, a week later on 5 December 2019, the ECN updated its results for the Windhoek Rural Constituency after confirming that 7 000 votes for Itula had mistakenly been allocated to United Democratic Front (UDF) presidential candidate Apius Auchab.
Venaani in his Twitter post said: “I am receiving reports that apparently an official of the ECN attempted to sell 7 computer laptops at Cash Converters in order to get rid of election evidence. Made to understand that police confiscated the materials. The official is allegedly a certain @miltonlouw.”
Political commentator Frederico Links said: “We should not try and tie this to the elections.”
Links described the ECN as a problematic institution.
“It is one of those incidences that show there is a problem at the ECN. The ECN cannot be considered to be credible, [where] it should be seen as credible, and it does not meet the standard,” Links said.
“Let's hope that there will be a look at the institution and that people are held accountable.”
Academic Ndumba Kamwanyah also did not link the laptops incident to an attempt to purposely get rid of “evidence”.
“It sounds like a usual alleged thievery case, but the way election materials are disappearing from the ECN's custody raises a great concern about the ability of the ECN, as a national electoral body, to safeguard and protect materials of national importance,” he said.
OGONE TLHAGE
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