Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director general Paulus Noa has warned business people to refrain from delivering substandard work and using proceeds to acquire flashy vehicles.
Noa said this at the ACC Forum at Outapi on Tuesday.
Responding to a question from the audience, Noa emphasised the importance of upholding high ethical standards in business dealings and ensuring that public funds are utilised effectively.
He expressed concern over the growing trend of contractors cutting corners in their projects and using the profits to fund extravagant lifestyles.
He said the country needs to have billionaires, but business people should become billionaires “fairly and justly”.
“Some of them are given contracts by the government to put up infrastructure like schools. You know what has happened in the past, a person is given a contract to put up some classrooms, those classrooms, after a year or two, they have cracks on top of it, meaning that the money that was paid to that person was spent on personal assets like cars and other things,” Noa said.
He said: “That is not the type of local business people we want. Putting up substandard infrastructure and gaining more benefits from government contracts is draining the economy of this country.”
According to Noa, some local business people do not use quality materials when they are constructing roads or building infrastructure, and as a result, some government ministries are discouraged to award contracts to local business people.
“That corruption has to stop if we want to build this country. They must just stop that.
They must not only be interested in personal things.
I hear some of them say the first thing they do is buy a Mercedes Benz or Landcruiser and so on. No, they shouldn’t do that, please,” Noa said.
The director general urged Namibians to fight corruption, adding that Namibians want the contracts to be given to the local people.
“Our local people must also come up with proper products.
They must properly produce when they are given contracts. We don’t want a road put up this year, and after five years, the whole road will be removed completely and a contractor from maybe China or another country must come and put up a better road. It’s a shame to all of us,” Noa said.
Speaking at the same event, ACC Oshakati office chief investigating officer Thomas Shangula said between 2020 and 2024, 15 cases from the Omusati region were reported to the ACC. Of these, five were not within the ACC’s jurisdiction to investigate.
Six cases were found to lack criminal evidence, two are still under investigation and two others were referred to the prosecutor general but declined for prosecution.
“One of the ongoing cases is still in its early stages, while the other is nearing completion,” Shangula stated.
He added that the Omusati region is making significant progress in combating corruption.
Shangula revealed that of the 15 reported cases, seven were related to abuse of office, five were associated with corruption related to tenders, two involved the use of false documents and one was about bribery of public officers.
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