… Corruption destroys the economy – Noa
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has received about 872 corruption cases from 2018 to date.
Among the reported statistics, 368 cases were investigated, 483 cases were declined for various reasons and 25 cases were referred to other institutions.
ACC spokesperson Josephine Nghituwamata confirmed the statistics in an interview with The Namibian yesterday.
She said the most reported forms of corruption relate to abuse of power, bribery, abuse of public resources, value-added tax and tender irregularities in recruitment.
She said whistleblowers mainly report cases of abuse of power.
ACC director general Paulus Noa urged Namibians to fight against corruption, saying it destroys the economy.
“We should all contribute to raising awareness to prevent corruption in Namibia. Corruption destroys the economy. It causes untold damage with long-term effects on the economy and undermines the value of democracy, rule of law and good governance.
“Often, the majority of citizens suffer the consequences of corruption while benefiting only a few individuals,” he said.
Noa added that the ACC has increasingly stepped up its investigation efforts to finalise outstanding dockets.
“The Directorate of Public Education and Corruption Prevention actively carried out public awareness and corruption prevention activities under [sic] limited financial resources. I commend members of the clusters who have constantly shown commitment to tracking progress made by the respective institutions.
“The effective strategy to combating corruption is to invest in preventive measures. Prevention is better than cure. All sectors of our society must develop proactive anti-corruption policies and programmes. Only when we are united in the spirit of nationhood and patriotism can we successfully mount the fight against corruption,” he said.
President Nangolo Mbumba this week called on the police, ACC and others to work on keeping Namibia ‘corruption free’. According to Mbumba, this comes after citizens expressed concern regarding corruption in the energy sector.
ACC’s head of public education and corruption prevention Marina Matundu said the ACC does not have sufficient funds to create public awareness on fighting corruption.
“Public education is a costly exercise. You need to travel and you need to craft your information properly so that it can reach the target audience. We are handling different kinds of audiences to make sure that our message is going out to the right people.
“We need funds and we need money. We need our budget to be supported. We need funds for our exercise to be successful because all of our exercises cost us a lot of money. We have to involve young people to support our initiative. That is why we held the choir competition last year,” she said.
TOP CASES
The ACC is currently investigating the Road’s Authority (RA) management on allegations that they ordered vehicles and motorbikes, delivered to the RA head office, without the approval of the procurement committee and chief executive.
The management reportedly requested a company that does not have a contract with RA to purchase the vehicles on their behalf at inflated prices, with procurement processes not being followed.
The ACC is also currently investigating allegations of the misuse of office positions by Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management (Nipam) officials and police officers accused of bribery.
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