Political Perpective
By: Gwen Lister
PAULUS Noa can’t drop the investigation into the Chinese scholarship saga simply because there’s been no response.
That is unacceptable by any standard. It also makes the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) look both foolish and toothless. Is it because this particular story touches the Presidency, and the ACC is afraid to go there? Lest we forget it is none other than President Hifikepunye Pohamba who declared “zero tolerance” for corruption, so he must be made to put his money where his mouth is and cooperate fully with the probe, although it already appears to have been relegated to the dustbin of history.
NAMIBIANS need and want answers. That the children of the political elite benefit from such a scheme rather than gifted offspring of the currently disadvantaged remains unacceptable.
It seems from the news stories on the subject, that the ACC only approached the Chinese Embassy on the issue, but were stonewalled. Why didn’t they question the parents of the recipients themselves, most notably President Pohamba? The Ministry of Education went on record at the time the scandal broke, some four years ago to say that they had not been consulted. Clearly this was nothing more than a political favour, and we would like to know what was given to the Chinese in return for it.
At the time it was revealed that President Pohamba’s daughter was a recipient, but so were the children of other top Swapo officials including several ministers. It was also made clear in news reports at the time that several of these children were not exactly the best performers either, so any criteria of merit was clearly exempt from the equation.
The ACC must realise that the people of this country both need and want an explanation and that it is not good enough to abandon investigations because there was no response. It has taken four years and the ACC owe the public answers.
Among others: how many such scholarships were given and for how long; the monetary value of this ‘gift’; the names of all the recipients and their connection to the ruling party elite; and why the Chinese Embassy appears to be a law unto itself in Namibia refusing to respond to official queries on the part of the ACC. It would also be good to get a ‘progress report’ on the studies of the recipients or must we surmise, given the dishonest way in which they were granted in the first place, that their results will also be tailored to suit the high political status of their parents?
Government, or the Ministry of Education in this respect, don’t have answers as to how the list was compiled of those who would be the lucky beneficiaries. So if not Government, then the answer must lie with the ruling party hierarchy themselves. Even the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) condemned the act and so this appears to have clandestinely decided among the elite themselves if they too were in the dark.
The excuse at the time from the Presidency was that Pohamba’s daughter had ‘applied on her own and only notified her parents afterwards’. Clearly this is a lie, and absolutely unacceptable coming from the highest office in the country. If she had ‘applied’ as was said, then this implies the scholarships were publicly advertised which was not the case as far as I am aware. President and Mrs Pohamba clearly knew about it, and the right thing to do would have been to decline such, well aware as they must have been what the perceptions of the people would be once the story got out into the public domain.
To leave the matter where it is at present, shrouded in mystery and intrigue, is simply not on. Especially when the elite have the facts but choose not to share them. The problem is also that our nation is becoming completely corrupt and compromised, and this will not stop unless it ends at the top.
Clearly there is no political will to tackle corruption and graft. It is a huge disappointment. One needs to ask the question as to whether accountability matters at all in Namibia today?
For once and for all President Pohamba needs to present the nation with the facts on this secretive saga. I both call on him to do so and urge the ACC not to let this go for our people’s sake.