Africa-Press – Namibia. ONLY two political parties submitted their financial statements to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) in the 2019/20 financial year.
According to ECN’s latest annual report, only the All People’s Party (APP) and the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) submitted their statements for this period.Political parties are bound by the Electoral Act to submit their statements to the ECN on an annual basis.
This comes at a time when new ECN chairperson Elsie Nghikembua has promised to fully implement the provisions of the Electoral Act to enhance accountability and transparency.
Nghikembua at a recent media briefing in Windhoek said the commission has observed “with concern” that political parties are not complying with the act’s regulations.
“At the time of going to print, the submission of financial statements for the 2020/21 financial year was not included . . ,” the ECN’s report stated.
The parties which failed to submit their statements include the Christian Democratic Voice, National Unity Democratic Organisation of Namibia, Rally for Democracy and Progress, Republican Party, Swapo, United Democratic Front of Namibia, United People’s Movement, and the Workers’ Revolutionary Party (WRP).
“The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) were not registered during the previous financial years,” the report reads.
It says a large number of political parties have not submitted their financial statements to the ECN for the past five financial years.
Four political parties, including the APP, PDM, Swanu and Swapo handed in their reports.
The APP, PDM and Swapo have been the most consistent in submitting their financial records, while the WRP has never submitted statements, the report says.
‘NOT OUR FUNCTION’
ECN chief Theo Mujoro last week said: “The ECN is already in the process of fully implementing the Electoral Act, as it currently reads, regulating political party finances.
“All registered political parties and organisations were informed to provide the ECN with proof of compliance with sections 139, 140, 141 and 158 of the Electoral Act since the 2015/16 financial year.”
However, in its annual report tabled in parliament recently, the ECN said this function was delegated to them by mistake.
“It was inappropriately delegated to the ECN. This responsibility is not a direct functional area of the ECN, thus it places a undue burden on the institution and compromises our ability to maintain parties’ trust in other electoral areas,” the report reads.
In the process of amending the act, the ECN has proposed that this responsibility be assigned to the relevant institutions.
“Furthermore, the ECN lacks the functional capacity to scrutinise the reports submitted with a view to fulfil its oversight role as required, therefore it is only prudent if the responsibility is shifted to the relevant institutions,” it stated. Mujoro said in other countries the electoral management body is responsible for the allocation of funds to the political parties, and it is therefore obvious that they should have an oversight role on how this money is managed.
“In Namibia, the ECN does not allocate funds to political parties, and therefore it is illogical that the ECN is assigned the oversight role. Furthermore, the ECN’s core mandate is the organisation, direction, supervision, management and control of elections and referenda, and it is preferable that the ECN be burdened with its core mandate,” he said.
He said the ECN does not have the skills, capacity or authority to access the bank accounts of parties to assess their financial statements and other information.
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