ACC Chiefs Must Account

FIRST of all, I strongly support Gwen Lister’s editorial comment of Friday, 14 June 2007, concerning the two top of?cials of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Namibia, namely Director Paulus Noa and his Deputy Director Erna van der Merwe.

Lister’s analyses and arguments are correct, justi?able and straight to the point. The two of?cials must tender their resignations as soon as possible because their reputation is now questionable.Even though a mistake was made by the paymasters in the Of?ce of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Justice, they were not supposed to use that additional money for their personal needs.They both have current accounts with their respective banks and were supposed to make arrangements through their banks to pay back the money as soon as they detected the mistake rather than to wait for six months before making arrangements to refund the money in instalments.This is fraud in a clear manifestation since the monies involved are state funds.Whatever justi?cation they want give now is unacceptable and cannot be condoned, especially when coming from the “top watchdogs” of the Government on corruption in the country.Since the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission, more than 100 Namibians have been arrested on various alleged corruption charges.Some of the charges were not even investigated prior to the arrests and detention of these people.Some were arrested because of similar incidents to the one of the two top ACC of?cials.In actual fact both Noa and Van der Merwe were supposed to have been arrested in order to clear themselves through the courts in the same way as they are doing to others right now, and we are demanding that they be arrested and charged with fraud and corruption.The Of?ce of the President and Prime Minister must implement their professed anti-corruption campaign without fear or favour.There should be no immunities for whoever simply because these are political appointees.If zero tolerance on corruption is a law for all Namibians than there should be no protectionism or favours, otherwise the whole exercise is meaningless and a political yardstick to keep the nation under constant fear while allowing “the selected few untouchables” to perpetuate corruption with impunity.We are also demanding clari?cation from the Of- ?ce of the Prime Minister about the implementation of the Public Service Act which inter alia stipulates procedures to be followed by Government Ministries/Institutions and Offices when it comes to the contravention of the Public Service rules and Regulations as well as Treasury Instructions.Civil servants are being arrested by the ACC without allowing Ministries and Government Of?ces to conduct their own internal investigations and Disciplinary Hearings on charges of misconduct.President Pohamba must demonstrate to the nation that he means business when talking about zero tolerance on corruption by taking stringent measures against his own appointees without protecting them.We as people on the ground know about Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Commissioners, Generals and other senior government of?cials who have been and are still involved in serious corrupt practices but have been and are still being protected by the Of?ce of the President.The reason why the many Presidential Commissions of Investigation reports, are not being publicly tackled by the ACC is a clear testimony that, just like the so-called Frank Commission, the ACC is also under instruction not to touch the top echelons of power or to question their activities.What about the surreptitious disappearance of the Social Security Commission N$30 million, the ODC N$100 million and the Defence Ministry N$3.5 million, when will the culprits be brought to book? In the ?rst place, some of us see no relevance in establishing a statutory body like the Anti-Corruption Commission while we have got a reliable strong police force in the form of Nampol and the Ombudsman.What we see now is a complete duplication of functions between these three bodies and a waste of public funds to pay the salaries of a Director and Deputy Director who don’t carry out proper investigations or act without fear or favour.The ACC must be dismantled and incorporated into Nampol.The funds now spent on the ACC can help Nampol to purchase more vehicles, pay telephone bills and improve operational radio communication to make our police force more effective and ef?cient in combating crime.Obinna Katau KatuturaThe two of?cials must tender their resignations as soon as possible because their reputation is now questionable.Even though a mistake was made by the paymasters in the Of?ce of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Justice, they were not supposed to use that additional money for their personal needs.They both have current accounts with their respective banks and were supposed to make arrangements through their banks to pay back the money as soon as they detected the mistake rather than to wait for six months before making arrangements to refund the money in instalments.This is fraud in a clear manifestation since the monies involved are state funds.Whatever justi?cation they want give now is unacceptable and cannot be condoned, especially when coming from the “top watchdogs” of the Government on corruption in the country.Since the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission, more than 100 Namibians have been arrested on various alleged corruption charges.Some of the charges were not even investigated prior to the arrests and detention of these people.Some were arrested because of similar incidents to the one of the two top ACC of?cials.In actual fact both Noa and Van der Merwe were supposed to have been arrested in order to clear themselves through the courts in the same way as they are doing to others right now, and we are demanding that they be arrested and charged with fraud and corruption.The Of?ce of the President and Prime Minister must implement their professed anti-corruption campaign without fear or favour.There should be no immunities for whoever simply because these are political appointees.If zero tolerance on corruption is a law for all Namibians than there should be no protectionism or favours, otherwise the whole exercise is meaningless and a political yardstick to keep the nation under constant fear while allowing “the selected few untouchables” to perpetuate corruption with impunity.We are also demanding clari?cation from the Of- ?ce of the Prime Minister about the implementation of the Public Service Act which inter alia stipulates procedures to be followed by Government Ministries/Institutions and Offices when it comes to the contravention of the Public Service rules and Regulations as well as Treasury Instructions.Civil servants are being arrested by the ACC without allowing Ministries and Government Of?ces to conduct their own internal investigations and Disciplinary Hearings on charges of misconduct.President Pohamba must demonstrate to the nation that he means business when talking about zero tolerance on corruption by taking stringent measures against his own appointees without protecting them.We as people on the ground know about Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Commissioners, Generals and other senior government of?cials who have been and are still involved in serious corrupt practices but have been and are still being protected by the Of?ce of the President.The reason why the many Presidential Commissions of Investigation reports, are not being publicly tackled by the ACC is a clear testimony that, just like the so-called Frank Commission, the ACC is also under instruction not to touch the top echelons of power or to question their activities.What about the surreptitious disappearance of the Social Security Commission N$30 million, the ODC N$100 million and the Defence Ministry N$3.5 million, when will the culprits be brought to book? In the ?rst place, some of us see no relevance in establishing a statutory body like the Anti-Corruption Commission while we have got a reliable strong police force in the form of Nampol and the Ombudsman.What we see now is a complete
duplication of functions between these three bodies and a waste of public funds to pay the salaries of a Director and Deputy Director who don’t carry out proper investigations or act without fear or favour.The ACC must be dismantled and incorporated into Nampol.The funds now spent on the ACC can help Nampol to purchase more vehicles, pay telephone bills and improve operational radio communication to make our police force more effective and ef?cient in combating crime.Obinna Katau Katutura