ECN, Come one! This ‘Katoshe’ Communication is a joke!

SHITETA SHA MVULA, A VOTER WRITES:

Greetings to your staff. We are in 2024, a year of expectations. This is your year of managing Namibia's 8th democratic, National Assembly and Presidential elections.

You have, however, not been that better at running these elections, in addition to Local and Regional Elections after every six years. Your office, I believe is is an independent one, was mired by controversies; from unable to read five digits numbers, to running a sham elections that were ordered for a recount by Court, more disputed elections in court, to EVMs without paper trail and their removal by the order of Court. There were also arrests over the ECN missing laptops which we never heard in the end as to what happened.

While we hope you, ECN, have learned a lesson or two from the past misdeeds. In 2024, with the registered voters that may likely reach N$ 2 million; the majority of voters are expected to be "the digital/smartphone generation"; the youth. This means that if ECN has not transformed itself and rebranded to fit into a digital society and world, this country's democratic system will be found wanting and boring.

Observing how the ECN is running the registration process with only one of the single SMSs that is sent through which reads: "Say hello to Democracy by registering during the ongoing General Registration of Voters. Play your part, register to vote!" And then a disclaimer: "Can't reply to this short code".

This is almost the communication from ECN I have in my memory. Now, what else does ECN do in its daily activities? What has ECN been doing with the Voter Education in the country? How has ECN been digitalized since its inception and looking at the digitalized world and society? Namibians and voters are more active on social media. Where ECN's engagement platform on Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Youtube, etc,? Where are visual, digital and audio messages? I visited the ECN Facebook page recently and it is containing a few press statements that were posted, reacting it's actions towards its main stakeholders. And hardly there is a dialogue between ECN and citizens (voters) when questions are posted on the reply platform. The right to information is compromised.

Interestingly, ECN will have no other options but to use a digitalized system in the registration of voters program. While we will have to use manual ballots in casting our votes, these will also need the digitalized system for capturing the votes to compile the final version of the results.

However, since ECN will have to create a Verification/Result/Tabulation Centre, how will this happen when, currently, ECN is only having a "katoshe-like or non-smartphone" method that merely sends an SMS or MMS? That means it will have to hire an entity that will run the show. Will that make our elections free, fair and credible and technologically advanced? We must know who this digital entity will be as citizens, taxpayers and voters.