UPDATE: The Speaker of the National Assembly, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, has dismissed demands by Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement leader Dr Job Amupanda to provide internal records that led to the nomination of candidates for the position of Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), alongside the recommendation of two additional commissioners.
Amupanda threatened legal action to stop the National Assembly vote on the appointment of the ECN Chairperson and commissioners unless internal documents on the selection process were provided.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, however, said that in terms of Section 6 of the Electoral Act, the committee is entrusted with receiving applications, interviewing candidates and recommending suitable candidates to the President.
“Upon submitting those recommendations, the selection committee has discharged and completed its statutory mandate. In terms of Section 6, Subsection 17 of the Electoral Act, the President submits the nomination to the National Assembly for consideration and approval. At that stage, the mandate of this House is confined to approving or rejecting the President’s nominations. It is not the function of the National Assembly to scrutinise, review or revisit the internal processes, deliberations or evaluation records of the selection committee.
“Accordingly, the documents properly before the House are the President’s nominations, which may be made available, in terms of Section 6, Subsection 17 of the Electoral Act, together with any other documents that lawfully form part of the proceedings before the House,” Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said.
She further said that the selection committee’s internal records, such as evaluation records, scoring sheets and interview assessments, remain records of the selection committee and not those of the Speaker or the Secretary of the National Assembly.
The Speaker stressed that the Secretary to the National Assembly performs administrative duties on behalf of that committee and may only act on the instructions of the committee and cannot release records on the instructions of the Speaker or on his or her own accord.
Photo: NBC Digital News
