A Need To Count These Costs Too

MINISTER for Presidential Affairs Dr Albert Kawana refused to give any detail on the N$69,43 million allocation to the National Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) in the annual budget, and this does not contribute to transparency or good governance.

Kawana said that “for obvious security reasons, do not expect me to elaborate further” when motivating the budget vote. His only comment was: “The NCIS contributes to the enjoyment of life by the Namibian people in a safe and secure environment, where they can pursue their activities without the threat of violence and crime”.This is clearly not an acceptable explanation.The Police and Defence Forces contribute to precisely the same goal and yet their budgetary allocations are properly explained and motivated by the Ministers in question.We can perhaps accept that while there would be aspects of the NCIS expenditure that may need to be outlined in fairly broad terms given their ‘intelligence’ role, it is nevertheless important that an otherwise thorough breakdown be given.Like any other Ministry or Government department, NCIS money is as vulnerable to mismanagement, waste and even outright theft if there is no scrutiny of the way in which it is spent.Cloaking this vote in more secrecy than it warrants will not improve good governance in the country.The nature of its business also does not mean that the NCIS should be absolved from any scrutiny whatsoever.Quite the contrary.It is a department such as this, which unless open to public accountability, can quite easily flaunt the country’s Constitution by making inroads in the privacy of individuals and organisations, all for often vague reasons of national or State security.There should also be some form of breakdown as to the achievements, if any, of this intelligence service.The one thing that was publicly acknowledged to be entrusted to them was, for example, an investigation into the identity of ‘Ananias Nghifiteko’, writer/s of poison pen and often maliciously slanderous e-mail letters, and yet not even this mystery was cracked by NCIS.Prime Minister Nahas Angula, in Parliament recently, took issue with what he termed a ‘third force’ aimed at destroying the ruling Party and manifested by the Nghifiteko letters, so it would appear that even to Swapo, the identifying of the culprit/s is a fairly crucial issue.We would therefore call for far more openness and transparency on the issue of the NCIS or risk further loss of the taxpayers’ money under the guise of secrecy.Minister Kawana also had to account for the expenditure of the Office of the President (incumbent) and that of former President Sam Nujoma.The cost of the ‘maintenance’ of Nujoma’s office is exceptionally high, set at N$8,48 million, and again we would welcome more detail as to how these funds are applied.This amount is obviously in addition to the multi-million personal ‘package’ of the former President, covering remuneration, travel, vehicles and staffing etc.If every former President of Namibia is entitled to these benefits, one can imagine how these costs will escalate in years to come.One of the biggest expenditures in the Office of the President is of course the allocation to the building of the new State House.Furniture costs alone will amount to N$17 million, according to some reports, in addition to the added N$108,92 million already allocated this year.It is absolutely essential that these amounts be properly motivated, and we would imagine that President Pohamba himself, who has expressed ‘zero tolerance’ for corruption, would want his officials to be transparent about the costs involving his new abode.It is therefore incumbent on the Minister for Presidential Affairs to not duck behind excuses of State security, on the one hand; and a desire not to question anything to do with the Presidents, both prior and incumbent, so as not to properly motivate these expenditures.We are certain that many people expect a proper accounting.His only comment was: “The NCIS contributes to the enjoyment of life by the Namibian people in a safe and secure environment, where they can pursue their activities without the threat of violence and crime”.This is clearly not an acceptable explanation.The Police and Defence Forces contribute to precisely the same goal and yet their budgetary allocations are properly explained and motivated by the Ministers in question.We can perhaps accept that while there would be aspects of the NCIS expenditure that may need to be outlined in fairly broad terms given their ‘intelligence’ role, it is nevertheless important that an otherwise thorough breakdown be given.Like any other Ministry or Government department, NCIS money is as vulnerable to mismanagement, waste and even outright theft if there is no scrutiny of the way in which it is spent.Cloaking this vote in more secrecy than it warrants will not improve good governance in the country.The nature of its business also does not mean that the NCIS should be absolved from any scrutiny whatsoever.Quite the contrary.It is a department such as this, which unless open to public accountability, can quite easily flaunt the country’s Constitution by making inroads in the privacy of individuals and organisations, all for often vague reasons of national or State security.There should also be some form of breakdown as to the achievements, if any, of this intelligence service.The one thing that was publicly acknowledged to be entrusted to them was, for example, an investigation into the identity of ‘Ananias Nghifiteko’, writer/s of poison pen and often maliciously slanderous e-mail letters, and yet not even this mystery was cracked by NCIS.Prime Minister Nahas Angula, in Parliament recently, took issue with what he termed a ‘third force’ aimed at destroying the ruling Party and manifested by the Nghifiteko letters, so it would appear that even to Swapo, the identifying of the culprit/s is a fairly crucial issue.We would therefore call for far more openness and transparency on the issue of the NCIS or risk further loss of the taxpayers’ money under the guise of secrecy.Minister Kawana also had to account for the expenditure of the Office of the President (incumbent) and that of former President Sam Nujoma.The cost of the ‘maintenance’ of Nujoma’s office is exceptionally high, set at N$8,48 million, and again we would welcome more detail as to how these funds are applied.This amount is obviously in addition to the multi-million personal ‘package’ of the former President, covering remuneration, travel, vehicles and staffing etc.If every former President of Namibia is entitled to these benefits, one can imagine how these costs will escalate in years to come.One of the biggest expenditures in the Office of the President is of course the allocation to the building of the new State House.Furniture costs alone will amount to N$17 million, according to some reports, in addition to the added N$108,92 million already allocated this year.It is absolutely essential that these amounts be properly motivated, and we would imagine that President Pohamba himself, who has expressed ‘zero tolerance’ for corruption, would want his officials to be transparent about the costs involving his new abode.It is therefore incumbent on the Minister for Presidential Affairs to not duck behind excuses of State security, on the one hand; and a desire not to question anything to do with the Presidents, both prior and incumbent, so as not to properly motivate these expenditures.We are certain that many people expect a proper accounting.