Amupanda withdraws application which sought disclosure of hiring of ECN top officials
Staff Reporter DR. Job Amupanda, the leader of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, has withdrawn a court application in which he sought disclosure of documents from the Speaker of the National Assembly and several others concerning the nomination of the Chairperson and Commissioners of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) by the President. In a ... The post Amupanda withdraws application which sought disclosure of hiring of ECN top officials appeared first on Informanté .
DR. Job Amupanda, the leader of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, has withdrawn a court application in which he sought disclosure of documents from the Speaker of the National Assembly and several others concerning the nomination of the Chairperson and Commissioners of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) by the President.
In a court order dated 18 August 2026, High Court Judge Hannelie Prinsloo ordered that the matter be removed from the roll and regarded as finalised, as per the notice of withdrawal of the application dated 20 July 2026.
In the application, Amupanda sought to lift the veil on the appointment of the body which oversees elections in Namibia, arguing that MPs should not be expected to approve presidential nominees without access to the records underpinning their selection process.
Amupanda had argued that Parliament cannot meaningfully assess them without first examining the process that led to their nomination.
He had thus 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.
The specific public records which he claimed had been unlawfully withheld comprised the complete official minutes of the interviews conducted by the ECN Selection Committee, including the individual candidate scoresheets; the primary written recommendation and report submitted by the Selection Committee; etc.
In July 2026, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, had, 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.
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photos: File/NBC Digital News
