Editorial: Will The Rot Never End?
WHEN will the rot come to an end? In yet another saga of corruption and mismanagement, this time the hearings at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the defunct Development Brigade Corporation (DBC) and Amalgamated Commercial Holdings (Amcom), more reports of almost unbelievable theft and plunder have come under the spotlight.
There's a strong sense of deja vu as the various hearings into
several parastatals have taken place over the past few years, all
of them revealing scandalous lack of management and controls and
often outright theft.
Ironically, in this most recent investigation, set in motion by
the President, the head of state himself has come under scrutiny,
and needs to account to the public as to why he was the beneficiary
of apparent kickbacks from the Patriotic Construction Company
(PCC), a subsidiary of the DBC, and whose former General Manager,
Eddie Champion, appears guilty of a variety of misdeeds.
Among other things, the PCC footed the bill of about N$40 000
for a hunting expedition for the President on the farm of the
former PCC chief, Eddie Champion.
But this is merely one of many alleged wrongdoings by the chief
executive officer in question.
He is also alleged to have siphoned over hundreds of thousands
of dollars from the company through fraudulent claims and other
unauthorised expenditure.
If Champion is guilty of the offences he is alleged to have
committed at the helm of a corporation whose primary aim was to
assist in developing skills bases for many unemployed former
combatants, then he should not be walking free.
Hopefully when this Presidential hearing comes to a close, no
time will be wasted in compiling charge sheets against people who
have abused not only public monies, but public trust as well.
The hearings have also revealed that Government spent about
N$120 million bailing out the DBC, a parastatal set up in 1992 for
training and job creation to ease former combatants back into
society.
The revelations at this Presidential commission appear to go
from bad to worse, as stories emerge of the most gratuitous graft
and endless abuse by management of the main entity, the DBC, and
its manifold subsidiaries.
Now that the President himself has been fingered as one of those
who benefited from the misappropriation, he does owe the public an
accounting.
We fail to see how the PCC could benefit from bankrolling a
hunting trip for the President and/or how anyone could try to
justify expenditure for such purposes.
What has emerged at this and other public hearings into
maladministration and corruption at various parastatals shows that
there is little or no accountability whatsoever on the part of many
of those in charge of these public funds.
It is all the more worrying as these reports come in the wake of
a Government probe into salaries and related issues at all
parastatals, an inquiry spearheaded by Minister Helmut Angula, and
which was supposed to ensure that good management and
accountability was the order of the day.
This too appears to have failed in its purpose.
We reiterate that public monies have, at all times, to be
closely guarded and properly administered if they are to benefit
those they are intended to advantage, in the case of the DBC,
former combatants.
The officials put in charge of these initiatives have to face
the music if they are found to be guilty of widespread theft and
self-aggrandisement.
We have said before, and we repeat, that there is no point to
these commissions of inquiry if they do not bring transgressors to
justice.
We would therefore urge our law enforcement, even as the hearing
progresses, to compile charge sheets to immediately bring against
the perpetrators without further delay.
Ironically, in this most recent investigation, set in motion by the
President, the head of state himself has come under scrutiny, and
needs to account to the public as to why he was the beneficiary of
apparent kickbacks from the Patriotic Construction Company (PCC), a
subsidiary of the DBC, and whose former General Manager, Eddie
Champion, appears guilty of a variety of misdeeds.Among other
things, the PCC footed the bill of about N$40 000 for a hunting
expedition for the President on the farm of the former PCC chief,
Eddie Champion.But this is merely one of many alleged wrongdoings
by the chief executive officer in question.He is also alleged to
have siphoned over hundreds of thousands of dollars from the
company through fraudulent claims and other unauthorised
expenditure.If Champion is guilty of the offences he is alleged to
have committed at the helm of a corporation whose primary aim was
to assist in developing skills bases for many unemployed former
combatants, then he should not be walking free.Hopefully when this
Presidential hearing comes to a close, no time will be wasted in
compiling charge sheets against people who have abused not only
public monies, but public trust as well.The hearings have also
revealed that Government spent about N$120 million bailing out the
DBC, a parastatal set up in 1992 for training and job creation to
ease former combatants back into society.The revelations at this
Presidential commission appear to go from bad to worse, as stories
emerge of the most gratuitous graft and endless abuse by management
of the main entity, the DBC, and its manifold subsidiaries.Now that
the President himself has been fingered as one of those who
benefited from the misappropriation, he does owe the public an
accounting.We fail to see how the PCC could benefit from
bankrolling a hunting trip for the President and/or how anyone
could try to justify expenditure for such purposes.What has emerged
at this and other public hearings into maladministration and
corruption at various parastatals shows that there is little or no
accountability whatsoever on the part of many of those in charge of
these public funds.It is all the more worrying as these reports
come in the wake of a Government probe into salaries and related
issues at all parastatals, an inquiry spearheaded by Minister
Helmut Angula, and which was supposed to ensure that good
management and accountability was the order of the day.This too
appears to have failed in its purpose.We reiterate that public
monies have, at all times, to be closely guarded and properly
administered if they are to benefit those they are intended to
advantage, in the case of the DBC, former combatants.The officials
put in charge of these initiatives have to face the music if they
are found to be guilty of widespread theft and
self-aggrandisement.We have said before, and we repeat, that there
is no point to these commissions of inquiry if they do not bring
transgressors to justice.We would therefore urge our law
enforcement, even as the hearing progresses, to compile charge
sheets to immediately bring against the perpetrators without
further delay.