Nujoma protests asset declaration

MINISTER of labour Utoni Nujoma says a list of assets he declared to parliament is used to attack him after it was posted on Facebook.

He expressed these sentiments in the National Assembly on Tuesday after members were reportedly notified by parliament to declare their assets.

“I declared my assets interest as required [by law]. As I speak, all the declarations are on Facebook. They have been posted by opponents,” Nujoma said.

He said it is unfair to attack members of parliament (MPs) on Facebook over their interests.

Last year Nujoma, who previously said he owns a farm in the Grootfontein district, indicated his assets included investments in 10 companies, including Bank Windhoek, First National Bank Namibia, Old Mutual, Simonis Storm Securities and two banking institutions in the UK – HSBC UK and NatWest UK.

This is not the first time Nujoma has spoken out against asset declaration.

In 2015 Nujoma reportedly accused the media of “abusing” asset declarations and using it against MPs.

He called on the National Assembly to apply strict rules when it comes to making the information public.

“We declare as requested, but we have seen the process was being abused by journalists. Some of us are even targeted. You declare in confidence, but during political campaigns it is used to tarnish your image,” Nujoma charged.

He urged parliament to strictly control access to the declarations made.

“If journalists want to have access to the information, they must clearly state what they want to do with it. The information is used to defame some of us. We need to put rules [in place] when it comes to these things, because we are also human beings with fundamental rights, but we are being abused left, right and centre,” the minister said.

“Just because one is a minister it does not mean you must be abused and targeted,” he said.

“In the past I declared, and then some people came to me so that we could open a company to look for diamonds. I did not even make a single cent from this company, but I was made to seem as if I was a diamond dealer.”