Ester Mbathera
Political parties preparing for Namibia’s National Assembly and Presidential elections in November are still seeking clarity over the Electoral Commission of Namibia’s (ECN) decision to use emergency procurement for ballot paper printing.
According to the ECN’s annual procurement plan for 2024/25, the bidding process for printing ballot papers should have started on 25 July 2024.
However, the commission opted for an emergency process instead after cancelling the initial decision to use Open International Bidding for ballot paper procurement.
The ECN chief electoral and referenda officer of the ECN, Peter Shaama, on Wednesday, explained the emergency procurement process after the commission identified potential risks with timelines that could jeopardise timely ballot delivery.
“The commission invoked this provision and awarded the contract to Ren-Form CC, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the contractor. Factors considered included compliance with technical requirements, cost-effectiveness, reliability, and the ability to meet strict timelines such as completion within 10 days,” he said.
Shaama said the commission, through a questionnaire, identified and contacted five service providers, two being local and three being international, to render responses.
He said responses were evaluated by the commission’s procurement management unit, which subsequently recommended the award of the tender of N$6.2 million to the Rem-Form.
According to him, the Open International Bidding (OIB) process was cancelled due to potential delivery risks.
“Following consultations with political party representatives, the Commission decided on 7 October 2024 to cancel the OIB process in favour of an approach that better aligns with election timelines and mitigates delivery risks,” he said.
The Public Procurement Act allows for emergency procurement under specific conditions that bypass the usual lengthy processes.
Emergency procurement can be initiated when there is an urgent need that cannot be met through standard procurement procedures due to unforeseen circumstances that pose a risk to life, property, or the functioning of public services.
These emergencies include natural disasters, health crises, or urgent public safety concerns.
However, Independence Patriots for Change (IPC) refuted this explanation.
The party’s spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge still questioned why the ECN did not disclose the names of the other bidders.
“For the sake of transparency, we have asked, but up to this hour, we have not been told who these companies are and who quoted for how much, so we are able to say Ren-Form should definitely be the right one because they quoted less or they were willing to offer much compared to the rest. What type of transparency is that?” he said.
Political analyst Graham Hopwood said the ECN left it too late to follow normal procurement procedures.
“It would have been possible if they had kept to their own deadlines set out in their procurement plan for the year and the electoral calendar. In that sense, it was a self-created emergency. I presume that this happened due to incompetence rather than conspiracy. Either way, it does undermine the credibility of the electoral process,” he said.
Political party representatives who went to South Africa to observe the printing process said the process was not transparent as they spent most of the time in a boardroom.
Festus Thomas, the president of the Body of Christ Party, said the process was done to persuade political parties to approve the suspicious acts between the ECN and Rem-Form.
“BCP disagrees. The two parts of observation and packing of ballot paper were never done in the presence of political party representatives,” he said.
Veikko Nekundi, the representative for Swapo, also echoed the same sentiments.
“There was no book for us to register that we observed. There was no observation. The book referred to is for us because we spent 90% of the time in a boardroom and only spend 20 minutes in there (the printing room) and if you ask questions, they tell you to go out,” he said.
Johannes Pande of the All People’s Party (APP) added that they were also denied access to the whole printing building.
“This whole printing process was never observed, as they are saying. It was never inspected. We were only allowed to go in the printing building for 30 minutes and you’re told to get out,” he said.
