Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari says president Nangolo Mbumba will respond to queries raised by Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani about the accountability of the military company August 26 in private.
August 26 Holding Company is a 100% government–owned company and the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs is the shareholding ministry.
Venaani wrote to Mbumba earlier this month to urge him to immediately ensure the release of the auditor general’s report to the public.
Venaani also wrote to Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director general Paulus Noa in April to demand an investigation concerning the unseen audited report of August 26.
He claimed that the audit reports are being held confidentially by the auditor general’s office. “As far back as 2017, I wrote to the ombudsman, highlighting August 26’s failure to deliver audited financial records to the National Assembly since its inception in 1998. We threatened to take legal action should the ombudsman fail to address this matter,” Venaani said.
The ACC replied in a letter to Venaani, indicating that in 2021 former president Hage Geingob gave the auditor general an assignment to provide findings to questions about the company for the period between 2011 to 2021.
The ACC noted the findings were given to the president in March 2023, and no further instructions were received.
Republican Party president Henk Mudge said it’s unacceptable and raises questions about why August 26 has not been audited for years.
“This is public information,” he said. Mudge further said it is worrying that the report was only provided two years after the president gave the instruction, and the public has still not received any information.
He said the ACC is incompetent and should have been replaced a long time ago.
He called for the report to be publicly released and discussed in parliament.
Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) deputy leader Kalimbo Iipumbu said the NEFF calls for a criminal investigation of the company, as well as a forensic audit.
“We wish to state it on record that the continued culture of impunity on August 26 and the blatant failure to audit the books of what is otherwise a public company is a violation of the basic tenets of good governance.”
Iipumbu said August 26 has become ‘‘an untouchable holy cow’’ run by people who have dared to be defiant, even of the former and current head of state.
“We advise the president to issue a directive to the auditor general to carry out his mandate and begin to investigate the books of this company since inception. ‘‘August 26 must never be allowed to continue to be the devil’s workshop, where corruption is allowed to flourish,” he said.
Iipumbu said would be a litmus test if Mbumba’s strength.Political expert Johannes Coetzee said August 26 is a holding company and subsidiaries’ financial activities can not be excluded from auditing by the auditor general.
“It is peculiar that this point has been raised in the director general’s letter because it is impossible to audit a holding company’s financial transactions without including the subsidiaries,” he said.
Coetzee noted if Telecom Namibia, NamWater and NamPower’s financial statements are audited and available to the public, August 26’s should also be.
He said the company has been involved with several alleged corruption cases since 1998, where generals enriched themselves in public-private dealings. “It is valid that serious public concerns can exist in terms of the dealings of August 26.”
According to Coetzee, it is an election year and it is expected that the ruling party will delay the process to make information available about the mismanagement of public funds at August 26.
“Will the financial statements and audit reports of August 26 be another case that will be challenged?”
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