Parties ignore Electoral Act

Seven of the eight political parties represented in the National Assembly are yet to comply with an Electoral Act requirement that they must account for the funding they get from state coffers.
According to the Electoral Act of 2014, sections 158 and 160, political parties must present audited reports on how they spent the funding to the National Assembly within six months of the end of the financial year in April.
Only the DTA of Namibia has presented an unqualified audited financial report to the National Assembly this year.
Last year, finance minister Calle Schlettwein announced that N$116 million of the national budget had been allocated to political parties for the 2015/16 financial year.
The ruling party Swapo, with 101 seats in parliament, received up to N$96 million while the DTA, the official opposition with six seats in parliament, received a maximum of N$5.7 million.
The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) and United Democratic Front (UDF), both with three seats, received N$2.8 million each.
The All People’s Party (APP), National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) and the Workers’ Revolutionary Party (WRP), each with two seats, received up to N$1.9 million each.
Parties such as the Republican Party (RP), South West Africa National Union (Swanu) and United People’s Movement, with only one seat, received about N$958 000.
The Electoral Act stipulates that only political parties with seats in parliament can receive public funds.
Contacted for comment, the director of elections, Paul Isaak, said the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) was in the process of reminding parties that they must account for the funds.
“They are obligated to account within six months and it should at least be published in two daily newspapers,” Isaak said.
Asked whether he thought the failure was deliberate, Isaak said the Act was still new and it could be that the political parties were not well informed about it. He said the ECN was willing to assist them.
The ECN has been accused of being too lax not using its power to ensure that the parties comply with the Act.
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) research associate Max Weylandt said the parties had too much of a say in such matters, which made it hard for the ECN to implement the Act.
Weylandt said political parties must be accountable because it is the taxpayer’s money they were spending.
He said the more time was allowed to pass, the more complicated the accounting would become. Therefore, the parties must find a solution soon.
Namibian Sun understands that at the beginning of this year the ECN had a meeting with representatives of the various political parties at which they were told to give feedback to the commission. No deadline was apparently set.
Talking to the party leaders about why they have not submitted the audited reports as required by law, some indicated that they still needed clarity from the ECN as to what they should account for while the majority indicted that their reports would be finalised by February 2017.
According to Swapo’s secretary-general, Nangolo Mbumba, his party’s books are not up to date but as soon as the auditors have finalised everything the report will be submitted.
Mbumba added that all political parties should comply with the Act.
Nudo’s secretary-general, Meundju Jahanika, said the delay was unintentional. He said the party had some administrative problems but understood the importance of complying with the Act.
Jahanika said Nudo’s audit report would be ready by the end of January 2017.
When contacted for comment, Swanu’s president, Usutuaije Maamberua, wanted to know why the ruling party had not submitted its report.
“Ask the ruling party, they get the biggest chunk,” Maamberua said.
He said his party had submitted its financial reports to its auditors.
UDF’s secretary-general, Hage Gawaseb, said the party was still waiting on the ECN for clarity. He said at a meeting this year with ECN questions were raised about the regulations. The ECN was to respond to their questions but that had not been done, he said.
“There were some issues surrounding the Act which needed clarity as to what the money must be spent on and what not, and we are still waiting for them to get back to us,” he said.
He said they did not want to submit a report to the National Assembly only to be told later that they had spent money for the wrong reasons.
Gawaseb said although they were still waiting on the ECN for clarity the party’s books were up to date.
UPM’s Jan van Wyk told Namibian Sun that their report was complete in August already but there were internal issues that delayed its submission.
“Our report will be submitted within the course of the week,” he said.
RP president Henk Mudge said the party had a very busy year and requested parliament to give them up to the end of January 2017 to submit their report.
“This is not an excuse… we have nothing to hide, it’s just that we did not have this in the past,” Mudge said.
Attempts to get comment from the APP were not successful at the time of going to print.
KENYA KAMBOWE