19 members petition Swapo over CC mess
Kaumbi calls for calm within party ranks
Six deputy ministers are among petitioners who seek a recount of Swapo's central committee votes.
A minister, six deputy ministers and a former governor are among 19 Swapo members who petitioned the party’s top leadership for recourse over the messy central committee vote last weekend, which left them out in the cold.
They are education minister Anna Nghipondoka, deputy ministers Anna Shiweda (agriculture), Kornelia Shilunga (mines), Jenelly Matundu (international relations), Verna Sinimbo (trade), Hilma Nicanor (defence) and Silvia Makgone (fisheries) as well as former Ohangwena governor Usko Nghaamwa and Swapo backbencher Lucia Witbooi.
Former central committee member Fenny Nanyeni is also listed as one of the aggrieved.
In a letter to secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa on Tuesday, the group alleged voting irregularities ranging from votes being counted without any observers present, ballots not being appropriately allocated and no total votes being announced to congress, and bemoaned the fact that all candidates’ votes were not announced to ascertain correlation. The group also claimed that presiding officer Joshua Kaumbi did not observe the entire counting process.
“As per the announced female list of so duly elected candidates, it appears to be an abstract of names as they alphabetically appeared on the ballot papers,” the petitioners wrote.
“It further appears that such candidates are the ones only appearing on the left side of the ballot paper and none from the right side of the ballot paper.”
They added: “Considering that 783 voters cast their votes on 70 candidates of their choice, that gives a potential number of 54 810 votes cast, yet no single spoiled ballot was recorded, very strange occurrence.”
Duties abandoned
The disgruntled group added that they find it odd that all duly elected candidates obtained over 500 votes each, adding: “This is indeed very strange [with[ the saturated number of candidates against less voters, yet the marginal variance is narrow. It seems a candidate with lesser votes received is placed above a candidate with a higher vote.”
There are also claims that some observers abandoned their duties after the counting for the top four positions was concluded, claiming they were only responsible to observe the top-four vote and not the central committee votes.
“Some observers literally stopped following proceedings while others went into corners to take a nap,” an insider from the election committee said.
One of those elected to the disputed central committee, Ndahafa Hapulile, in a letter to Shaningwa on Tuesday night, said only the central committee can decide whether or not a vote recount can take place.
She added that, technically, Kaumbi's term ended on Monday and thus he cannot preside over a recount without the central committee's blessing.
Human error
Despite the political chaos making rounds in Swapo due to the poll outcome, Kaumbi called for calm in the party.
He blamed the central election outcome disorder on ‘human error’.
“I do hereby acknowledge that during the counting of the central committee results, the committee suffered from severe fatigue by the time, and time was of the essence,” he said in a communication to Shaningwa.
Kaumbi said his team is ready to do a recount and verification, if given the directive to do so.
On Tuesday night, Shaningwa had ordered Kaumbi and his team to recount the votes in front of 12 observers.
That decision was, however, rescinded yesterday morning when the directive to recount votes was recalled. The party’s top four leaders gathered at State House the entire morning trying to find a solution to the electoral mess.
The top four comprises of party president Hage Geingob, re-elected vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and secretary-general Shaningwa, as well as new entrant, deputy secretary-general Uahekua Herunga.
Credibility questioned
Yesterday, however, some of the observers questioned the credibility of the recount process.
James Sankwasa was one of those who expressed concern. He wanted a guarantee that the ballots were not tampered with between yesterday and the last time all interested parties handled them.
Another observer, Bernard Haufiku, was concerned as he felt the composition of the electoral team for the recount was different from the initial one.
Kaumbi sought to quell all fears, saying the ballots were tightly guarded and that there was no tampering of any sort.
They are education minister Anna Nghipondoka, deputy ministers Anna Shiweda (agriculture), Kornelia Shilunga (mines), Jenelly Matundu (international relations), Verna Sinimbo (trade), Hilma Nicanor (defence) and Silvia Makgone (fisheries) as well as former Ohangwena governor Usko Nghaamwa and Swapo backbencher Lucia Witbooi.
Former central committee member Fenny Nanyeni is also listed as one of the aggrieved.
In a letter to secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa on Tuesday, the group alleged voting irregularities ranging from votes being counted without any observers present, ballots not being appropriately allocated and no total votes being announced to congress, and bemoaned the fact that all candidates’ votes were not announced to ascertain correlation. The group also claimed that presiding officer Joshua Kaumbi did not observe the entire counting process.
“As per the announced female list of so duly elected candidates, it appears to be an abstract of names as they alphabetically appeared on the ballot papers,” the petitioners wrote.
“It further appears that such candidates are the ones only appearing on the left side of the ballot paper and none from the right side of the ballot paper.”
They added: “Considering that 783 voters cast their votes on 70 candidates of their choice, that gives a potential number of 54 810 votes cast, yet no single spoiled ballot was recorded, very strange occurrence.”
Duties abandoned
The disgruntled group added that they find it odd that all duly elected candidates obtained over 500 votes each, adding: “This is indeed very strange [with[ the saturated number of candidates against less voters, yet the marginal variance is narrow. It seems a candidate with lesser votes received is placed above a candidate with a higher vote.”
There are also claims that some observers abandoned their duties after the counting for the top four positions was concluded, claiming they were only responsible to observe the top-four vote and not the central committee votes.
“Some observers literally stopped following proceedings while others went into corners to take a nap,” an insider from the election committee said.
One of those elected to the disputed central committee, Ndahafa Hapulile, in a letter to Shaningwa on Tuesday night, said only the central committee can decide whether or not a vote recount can take place.
She added that, technically, Kaumbi's term ended on Monday and thus he cannot preside over a recount without the central committee's blessing.
Human error
Despite the political chaos making rounds in Swapo due to the poll outcome, Kaumbi called for calm in the party.
He blamed the central election outcome disorder on ‘human error’.
“I do hereby acknowledge that during the counting of the central committee results, the committee suffered from severe fatigue by the time, and time was of the essence,” he said in a communication to Shaningwa.
Kaumbi said his team is ready to do a recount and verification, if given the directive to do so.
On Tuesday night, Shaningwa had ordered Kaumbi and his team to recount the votes in front of 12 observers.
That decision was, however, rescinded yesterday morning when the directive to recount votes was recalled. The party’s top four leaders gathered at State House the entire morning trying to find a solution to the electoral mess.
The top four comprises of party president Hage Geingob, re-elected vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and secretary-general Shaningwa, as well as new entrant, deputy secretary-general Uahekua Herunga.
Credibility questioned
Yesterday, however, some of the observers questioned the credibility of the recount process.
James Sankwasa was one of those who expressed concern. He wanted a guarantee that the ballots were not tampered with between yesterday and the last time all interested parties handled them.
Another observer, Bernard Haufiku, was concerned as he felt the composition of the electoral team for the recount was different from the initial one.
Kaumbi sought to quell all fears, saying the ballots were tightly guarded and that there was no tampering of any sort.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article