THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) says it is faced with a lack of funds to execute its mandate of fighting corruption effectively.
ACC director Paulus Noa said this yesterday when speaking at the launch of the Institute of Policy Research (IPPR) anti-corruption research programme title ‘The ACC in Action: What Does The Track Record Say?’The research reviewed the work of the graft fighting body over the past five years since its establishment.IPPR urged the ACC do more to fulfil its mandate in terms of preventing corruption and educating the public on corruption according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).Noa said investigating corruption as a crime is very different from murder or rape, as corruption leaves very little evidence, if any, behind for investigators.He also said that individuals cannot be convicted just on the basis of newspaper reports, adding that corruption cases are often the most difficult to investigate.In terms of the ACC’s record, from 2006/2007 to 2008/2009 the ACC received 2 514 reports of alleged corrupt practices of which 268 were pursuable according to the IPPR. This means that approximately 10 per cent of total reports received were pursuable.Ellison Tjirera, one of the authors of the latest IPPR report, said that this was an indication that a large portion of the public was not educated on what constitutes corrupt practices, and as a result bring frivolous reports to the ACC.To this end the IPPR have recommended that the ACC expand its public education efforts country wide to improve public knowledge on what constitutes corrupt practices.From 2006 to 2010, the ACC submitted 262 cases to the Prosecutor General for prosecution, however only 38 have resulted in successful convictions. Over the same period of time there have been 15 acquittals, and the Prosecutor General has declined to prosecute in 36 cases.More than half (151) of the cases submitted to the Prosecutor General are in court awaiting trial, and the IPPR regards this as evidence of an inefficient court system in Namibia.IPPR director Graham Hopwood said that data and indicators on the fight against corruption have been reviewed in the research paper and that the IPPR had also made some recommendations to the ACC to enhance its credibility and gain public support.Hopwood said that early impressions and beliefs were that the ACC would be effective in fighting corruption, noting that many similar institutions enjoy a ‘honeymoon period’ in terms of public perception but that there was a tendency for this to fall away over time.The IPPR recommended that the ACC fast tracks the setting up of its directorate of Corruption Prevention ‘which would be dedicated to researching systems practices and procedures that will best enable Namibia to reduce corruption’.It is also recommended that the ACC ‘name and shame’ those prosecuted and convicted of corrupt practices.
