IPC accuses ADM of deceiving its members

The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) has accused a newly-formed party, Action for Democracy Movement (ADM), of fraudulently using names and signatures of IPC members in order to meet the Electoral Commission of Namibia’s (ECN) registration requirements.This after ECN issued a notice in the government gazette on 18 April informing the public about an application by ADM to be gazetted as a political party. According to the notice, 4 060 registered voters gave consent for the formation of the new party.However, there have been complaints by many people who say they did not give consent for the party to be registered. They accused the ECN and ADM of fraudulently using their names, voter registration numbers and signatures.Homework for ECNIPC spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge yesterday confirmed that the party is among those who have written to the ECN to complain about how names of its members appear on the list.He said what happened is tantamount to fraud, adding that its members across the country who are affected are opening cases with the Namibian Police.“How did ECN even allow that? That&#039;s the question, because if you have a system, you are able to look at it and see if there is duplication,” he told Namibian Sun.“So, it&#039;s homework for ECN to make sure that such things no longer happen. The communication between IPC and ECN is still private for now. We have engaged them.”‘No fraud conducted’When contacted for comment, ADM interim president Vinsent Kanyetu rubbished the allegations by IPC and others who accused them of forging signatures.He explained that the idea to establish ADM started in 2018 and, at the time, the group which came up with the idea did not have the financial muscle to fast-track the formation of the political party. This, however, did not mean that they did not acquire signatures over the years.He argued that IPC - which was only formed in 2020 - was probably the one that used names and signatures of people who had already consented to the formation of ADM.“There is no fraud conducted. The names were collected from 2018, before IPC was formed,” Kanyetu, a former secretary-general of both the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and All People’s Party (APP), said. He was expelled from both parties.“If IPC gave birth to people who are voters, they must show us which hospital delivered them. The people who gave their support, some of them did not join ADM. They just gave their consent. No one was forced to give their signature. We had different agents on the ground. Some agents are members of various political parties who just helped us.”“The ADM leadership did not know how you signed. All they wanted was the submission. To cut a long story short, ADM was well-established and we are just waiting for our certificate from ECN,” he said.Attempts to get comment from ECN chief electoral and referenda officer Peter Shaama – who is understood to be in South Africa where a general election took place yesterday - proved futile.kenya@namibiansun.com

IPC accuses ADM of deceiving its members

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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IPC accuses ADM of deceiving its members

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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