Electoral Commission of Namibia faces political party backlash over controversial ballot paper procurement proposal

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is facing a dispute with several political parties over a last-minute proposal to avoid buying ballot papers through the public procurement process.

Two meetings hosted by the commission this week ended in a stalemate.

Independent Patriots for Change national general secretary Christine Auchamus says the commission has proposed emergency procurement through an international bid.

She says this contradicts the provisions of the law governing procurement at the ECN.

“They wanted our input. My submission was that only four entities are allowed to conduct emergency procurement processes and they are defence, the police, intelligence and the correctional service,” Auchamus says.

“I asked for the legal adviser to point out which provision they relied on to seek exemption. It’s clear they didn’t study the act and relied on a provision that doesn’t exist.

“They aren’t empowered by law to seek an exemption and bypass the Public Procurement Act, and that’s their biggest stumbling block,” she says.

The Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) expresses concerns that closing the procurement process to open competition would jeopardise the election’s credibility.

“What will be the end result if we impose a method that we know will lead to an unfair election?” the NEFF says.

Landless People’s Movement (LPM) councillor Ivan Skrywer criticises the commission for calling a meeting “with an already made decision”.

At a press conference following yesterday’s meeting, LPM leader Bernadus Swartbooi called for the resignation of the commissioners.

He accused them of “sleeping on the job”, adding that they had ample time to conduct a public bidding process ahead of the elections.

Independent candidate Ally Angula says political parties will not yield to the demands of the commission.

“They want to select their own bidder. Now, nobody will allow them to select their own bidder. They are fully aware that elections are approaching, so they cannot use emergency procurement or claim they have run out of time,” she says.

The commission has declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of the meetings.

Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) analyst Frederico Links describes the call for emergency procurement as questionable.

“It is strange that this is happening. At this stage, only a limited range of printers would be capable of handling a job like this,” he says.