Amupanda Withdraws Court Challenge Over ECN Appointments
Affirmative Repositioning leader and National Assembly member Job Amupanda has withdrawn his High Court challenge against the Speaker of the National Assembly over the appointment of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) chairperson and commissioners.
The withdrawal came before Speaker Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and the other respondents had opposed the application.
A High Court order dated 18 August confirms that the case was removed from the court roll and regarded as finalised after Amupanda filed a notice of withdrawal on 20 July.
Amupanda had taken the matter to court after seeking access to documents linked to the selection and nomination of the ECN leadership.
He wanted Parliament to obtain records such as interview minutes, candidates’ score sheets and recommendations made by the selection committee to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
His argument was that MPs could not properly assess and approve the President’s nominees without seeing the records behind the selection process.
The dispute followed the President’s nomination of Gerson Sindano as ECN chairperson, alongside Emmerentia Leonard and Julieta Diva Ferreira as commissioners.However, the Speaker rejected Amupanda’s request for the internal selection records.
The Speaker maintained that the selection committee’s role was to receive applications, interview candidates and submit its recommendations to the President.
According to the Speaker, once the recommendations reached the President, Parliament’s responsibility was limited to approving or rejecting the nominees, rather than examining the committee’s internal deliberations and scoring process.
Amupanda then approached the High Court seeking to stop Parliament from proceeding with the appointments until the requested documents were made available.
With the case now withdrawn, the parliamentary process is expected to continue when the National Assembly resumes in September.
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