PSC praises ACC for good work

THE Public Service Commission has kept mum about the arrest of one of its Commissioners, Teckla Lameck on allegations of fraud and corruption, involving N$120 million.

In an ironic twist of fate, Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob tabled the annual report of the Public Service Commission (PSC) in the National Assembly Tuesday and requested that the report be referred to one of the Parliamentary Standing Committees for further scrutiny.In his foreword to the report, which covers the period from April 1 2008 to March 31 2009, Chairman Eddie Amkongo wrote that the PSC not only monitored and advised on personnel issues in the Public Service, but also serves ‘as a check to possible abuse like corruption and nepotism. Amkongo even praised the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for its good work a few days before the arrest of Lameck.’The PSC congratulates the ACC which is leaving no stone unturned to eradicate the scourge of corruption in Namibia,’ Amkongo wrote.According to the annual report, Lameck’s term of office ends in October 2012. As at last month some 84 698 people were employed in the Public Service, including 14 712 in the Namibia Defence Force (NDF) and 11 057 uniformed Police members plus 1 339 uniformed members in the Prison Service.About 3 116 public servants resigned from Government in the past year, the highest figure being 1 436 resigning from the Education Ministry followed by 639 officials resigning from the Health Ministry. About 260 civil servants left because they reached the retirement age of 60 years. About 188 civil servants had declared they had another part time job or a business, ranging form owning a shebeen to part-time consultancy, operating an estate agency or a taxi business. Some 16 staff members in the entire civil servants were on suspension for either theft, negligence, smuggling prohibited items into prisons or alleged sexual harassment and intercourse with school children.