Parliament-bound civil servants face forced resignations
Elected candidates to be without work for months
Among those affected is Dr Elijah Ngurare, a deputy executive director in government, who announced he was vacating his post to comply with the Public Service Act.
Civil servants who make it onto the gazetted lists of their political parties next month will be forced by the new electoral law to vacate their offices until the November election, and will then be deemed to have resigned from their jobs if election results show that they have made it to parliament.
This follows the amendment of Section 77 of Act No. 5 of 2014, which is now known as the Electoral Amendment Act. It was gazetted a fortnight ago.
According to the amended act, if the person is a remunerated member of the public service as contemplated in Article 47 of the Namibian Constitution and accepts nomination to be part of the National Assembly list of a political party, they must take leave from their employment from the date of publication of the list.
Months without work
Because of Namibia’s controversial practice where newly elected national leaders must wait for four months before being sworn in, the forced resignations would mean Swapo’s Dr Elijah Ngurare, a deputy executive director in the ministry of agriculture, as well as Zambezi teacher Ruth Maseke, who was one of Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s 10 nominees to the party list, may have to quit their jobs permanently if they secure parliamentary seats this November.
Ngurare, who is also a nominee of Nandi-Ndaitwah, said last week: “In compliance with Public Service [Act] requirements, I have taken leave in order to join our Swapo Party and its presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on the campaign trail in 121 constituencies and 14 regions of our country".
The same rule would apply to Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) members Imms Nashinge, who works for the ministry of information, and teachers Abednego Hishoono and Saara Mutondoka from the Ohangwena and Erongo regions respectively. The new president and members of parliament are only expected to be sworn in in March 2025.
Electoral calendar
With some political parties such as Swapo and IPC already having conducted their electoral colleges where they selected candidates for the National Assembly seats that are up for grabs, there has been a growing air of uncertainty regarding when civil servants will be required to take leave.
Namibian Sun is reliably informed that some government ministries have already attempted to request employees who appeared on the widely circulated lists of the two parties to take leave, something described as illegal in terms of the new amended act.
Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) senior legal advisor Alpheus Haufiku yesterday explained that the publication of the lists as stipulated in the Electoral Amendment Act refers to the gazetting of the list, and not what is published by political parties.
He added that ECN works according to the electoral calendar, and political parties will only be required to hand in their list of candidates for National Assembly on 16 October during what is called the public sitting. “Once the political parties give ECN their parliamentary lists, after a few days, they will be gazetted. It is only then when those civil servants who appear on those party lists will, by law, be required to go on leave until the day of the announcement of the election results,” Haufiku explained.
He further stated that although civil servants will be required to go on leave when the party lists are gazetted next month, the law does not prohibit those who wish to go on leave before that time - in order to campaign for their political parties, for example - from doing so.
Namibian Sun has been reliably informed that among the top 40 candidates on IPC's list for the National Assembly, about 20 are civil servants.
[email protected]
This follows the amendment of Section 77 of Act No. 5 of 2014, which is now known as the Electoral Amendment Act. It was gazetted a fortnight ago.
According to the amended act, if the person is a remunerated member of the public service as contemplated in Article 47 of the Namibian Constitution and accepts nomination to be part of the National Assembly list of a political party, they must take leave from their employment from the date of publication of the list.
Months without work
Because of Namibia’s controversial practice where newly elected national leaders must wait for four months before being sworn in, the forced resignations would mean Swapo’s Dr Elijah Ngurare, a deputy executive director in the ministry of agriculture, as well as Zambezi teacher Ruth Maseke, who was one of Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s 10 nominees to the party list, may have to quit their jobs permanently if they secure parliamentary seats this November.
Ngurare, who is also a nominee of Nandi-Ndaitwah, said last week: “In compliance with Public Service [Act] requirements, I have taken leave in order to join our Swapo Party and its presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on the campaign trail in 121 constituencies and 14 regions of our country".
The same rule would apply to Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) members Imms Nashinge, who works for the ministry of information, and teachers Abednego Hishoono and Saara Mutondoka from the Ohangwena and Erongo regions respectively. The new president and members of parliament are only expected to be sworn in in March 2025.
Electoral calendar
With some political parties such as Swapo and IPC already having conducted their electoral colleges where they selected candidates for the National Assembly seats that are up for grabs, there has been a growing air of uncertainty regarding when civil servants will be required to take leave.
Namibian Sun is reliably informed that some government ministries have already attempted to request employees who appeared on the widely circulated lists of the two parties to take leave, something described as illegal in terms of the new amended act.
Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) senior legal advisor Alpheus Haufiku yesterday explained that the publication of the lists as stipulated in the Electoral Amendment Act refers to the gazetting of the list, and not what is published by political parties.
He added that ECN works according to the electoral calendar, and political parties will only be required to hand in their list of candidates for National Assembly on 16 October during what is called the public sitting. “Once the political parties give ECN their parliamentary lists, after a few days, they will be gazetted. It is only then when those civil servants who appear on those party lists will, by law, be required to go on leave until the day of the announcement of the election results,” Haufiku explained.
He further stated that although civil servants will be required to go on leave when the party lists are gazetted next month, the law does not prohibit those who wish to go on leave before that time - in order to campaign for their political parties, for example - from doing so.
Namibian Sun has been reliably informed that among the top 40 candidates on IPC's list for the National Assembly, about 20 are civil servants.
[email protected]
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article