Election ruling ‘good news’ for investors

Jo-Maré Duddy – The judgement on the presidential election results delivered by the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the supremacy of Namibia’s Constitution and the rule of law and as such is conducive of the investment environment in the country.

However, many other investment hurdles remain and must be addressed as a matter of urgency, analysts commented yesterday.

“I think the Supreme Court delivered a balanced and nuanced judgement which supported some of the applicants’ arguments but did not find enough evidence to overturn the election result and order a new vote.

“I think ultimately the judgement upheld the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law in Namibia. This is good news for the investment environment,” the executive director of the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), Graham Hopwood, told Market Watch.

“Overall the election judgement underlines that Namibia is a peaceful and stable country where the rule of law and the Constitution are respected,” he said.

Independent candidate Panduleni Itula, Henk Mudge of the Republican Party, Epafras Mukwiilongo of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters, Ignatius Shixwameni of All People’s Party and Mike Kavekotora of the Rally for Democracy and Progress wanted the Supreme Court to issue an order declaring that the presidential election, won by president Hage Geingob of Swapo, is null and void. The applicants also wanted the court to overturn the final results “on the grounds of irregularities in connection with the use of the EVMs [electronic voting machines]”.

“As many have pointed out before, the opposition party leaders had quite a big burden of proof to substantiate claims of electoral manipulation and to have the 2019 results overturned,” IJG Securities analyst Dylan van Wyk commented.

“To be very frank, the applicants’ case had little merit that our election results were materially inaccurate, and the judgement was not unexpected,” he said.

Hopwood said it “noticeable and praiseworthy” that Itula, after the judgement, accepted it and formally recognised Geingob as the legitimate head of state.

“I think most political players will accept the judgement and I don't envisage any kind of unrest,” he said.

With regard to the investment situation, Namibia has other issues, Hopwood pointed out.

‘Misfiring policies’

This is due to “mixed messages that have been transmitted to investors via misfiring policies (such as NEEEF and the investment protection law) and inefficiencies like the time it takes to register a business”, he said.

The New Equitable Economic Empowerment Framework (NEEEF) and Namibia Investment Promotion Act (NIPA) have long been bones of contention.

At the economic growth summit last year, Geingob said the 25% BEE ownership requirement would be removed from NEEEF.

“However, all pillars will remain and be taken into account for enterprises doing business with government and applying for natural resources licensing,” Geingob said at the summit in July.

He added that the finalisation of the New Equitable Economic Empowerment Bill (NEEEB) is one of government’s key priorities. The Bill will be tabled in Parliament within six months, he said at the time.

The deputy of the EU delegation to Namibia, Claudia Fischer, in November called for the finalisation and enactment of the Bill, saying cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over the heads of potential investors in the absence of a comprehensive and finalised law.

“We will wait for the NEEEF Bill to be made public and then we will assess [it] because now, we don’t know what’s in it,” Fischer was quoted by Nampa at the time.

NIPA was enacted in August 2016 but is currently under review.

According to the Economic Policy Research Association (EPRA), a voluntary association of nearly 600 Namibian businesses, NIPA provides for an investment approval regime that gives the minister in charge of investments sweeping discretionary powers in the regulation and decision-making on investment matters.

Transparency

Referring to yesterday’s court ruling, Van Wyk said “serious issues regarding transparency and accountability have been raised, which we hope will be addressed”.

The Supreme Court that an earlier ministerial directive to conduct elections with EVMs but without a verifiable paper trail was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court ordered and directed that as from 21 March 2020, no elections will be conducted in Namibia via EVM without the machines having a verifiable paper trail.

“Vital safeguards to our democratic process are still not in place due to the selective implementation of our electoral legislation,” Van Wyk said.

“This is a worrying theme, one that also played a role in the Fishrot saga, where the safeguards put in place to make sure that the process were fair were simply ignored,” he continued.

“Without transparency, there can be no trust in our institution and the fight against corruption will be a losing battle. As a result business confidence will remain low and we will struggle to get the buy in from investors for our economy to grow and our people to prosper,” Van Wyk said.

Namibians need to start demanding this transparency, especially in their electoral processes which is the backbone of the country’s democracy, he urged.