ACC Has Lost Its Focus

PAULUS Noa, the Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, is quoted as saying “perception and not really what is happening on the ground” in response to the fact that Namibia has slipped down the corruption index.

The ACC, with all respect, is not in touch with the ground or reality, and frankly has lost focus. We have recently seen publications and brochures distributed in the mass media by the ACC, a highly commendable attempt to enlighten and encourage Namibians to report corruption.And here is the crux, the definition or a layman’s description of corruption is not provided in any of these publications or brochures and for most people when corruption presents itself, it probably does not appear alarmingly abnormal or even against the law.This said, by no means is an insult to the target audience the ACC attempts to preach to.The very definition of corruption is an extremely difficult one, in legal academic circles the jury is still out trying to define it in many countries, while in others they have nonetheless found a practical definition to provide a basis to fight crime/corruption.It is not easy, we have previously raised this with the ACC and drew their attention to the fact that while highlighting the need to fight corruption provide some form of description or focus what the honest Namibian should be looking for.Most of us understand theft, murder, fraud, rape etc.but as said, corruption and its close cousin organised crime; is another animal entirely, hence, is it any surprise that Namibia has slipped down the index? Look at our neighbours South Africa, they have also slipped down the index, analysis of their corruption prosecutions brought to the courts also illustrates a very sad state of affairs less than 20% ever lead to convictions.This further raises the question, instead of the ACC (while it is understood the intention is a good one) and apologies for copying, to maybe have established a high profile crime fighting unit (such as the Scorpions in SA or the FBI in USA) to attack a series of high profile crimes of varying natures rather than focusing exclusively on one particular crime as corruption in this case with its complexities.Mr Noa is therefore, encouraged to read the spirit of the corruption index report which quotes “persistently high corruption in low-income countries amounts to an ‘ongoing humanitarian disaster’”, and apply Transparency International’s constructive criticism in a positive manner and get on with the job of attacking the problem of crime in practical and high impact ways which is not happening at the moment.Andrew Fordred Via e-mailWe have recently seen publications and brochures distributed in the mass media by the ACC, a highly commendable attempt to enlighten and encourage Namibians to report corruption.And here is the crux, the definition or a layman’s description of corruption is not provided in any of these publications or brochures and for most people when corruption presents itself, it probably does not appear alarmingly abnormal or even against the law.This said, by no means is an insult to the target audience the ACC attempts to preach to.The very definition of corruption is an extremely difficult one, in legal academic circles the jury is still out trying to define it in many countries, while in others they have nonetheless found a practical definition to provide a basis to fight crime/corruption.It is not easy, we have previously raised this with the ACC and drew their attention to the fact that while highlighting the need to fight corruption provide some form of description or focus what the honest Namibian should be looking for.Most of us understand theft, murder, fraud, rape etc.but as said, corruption and its close cousin organised crime; is another animal entirely, hence, is it any surprise that Namibia has slipped down the index? Look at our neighbours South Africa, they have also slipped down the index, analysis of their corruption prosecutions brought to the courts also illustrates a very sad state of affairs less than 20% ever lead to convictions.This further raises the question, instead of the ACC (while it is understood the intention is a good one) and apologies for copying, to maybe have established a high profile crime fighting unit (such as the Scorpions in SA or the FBI in USA) to attack a series of high profile crimes of varying natures rather than focusing exclusively on one particular crime as corruption in this case with its complexities.Mr Noa is therefore, encouraged to read the spirit of the corruption index report which quotes “persistently high corruption in low-income countries amounts to an ‘ongoing humanitarian disaster’”, and apply Transparency International’s constructive criticism in a positive manner and get on with the job of attacking the problem of crime in practical and high impact ways which is not happening at the moment.Andrew Fordred Via e-mail