Fishrot Showed Us What Happens in the Dark: Time to switch on the lights

It is welcome that this week’s high-level engagement with the fishing industry is finally taking place – although long overdue.

Six years after the Fishrot scandal came to light, Namibia still has not done the one thing that matters most: open up the system.

The fisheries sector remains one of the most important pillars of the economy – supporting thousands of jobs and generating a significant share of export earnings. But it is still governed by a level of secrecy that would be unacceptable in almost any other sector.

There is no publicly accessible register of who holds fishing rights, who receives quotas, or who ultimately benefits from them. This lack of transparency is not a technical oversight – it is a governance failure that continues to create space for abuse, rent-seeking, and the kind of corruption that defines the Fishrot fraud and corruption case.

The reality is stark: The same structural weaknesses that enabled Fishrot remain largely intact.

Discretionary powers over quotas are still concentrated, allocation processes remain opaque, and ‘paper quota holders’ continue to profit without investing in the sector.

What needs to be done is not complicated, but requires political will.

The government must publish full lists of rights holders, quota allocations, and beneficial owners. It must align the sector with global transparency standards like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, reform the Marine Resources Act to limit unchecked discretion, and commit to open, rules-based allocation systems.

Joining initiatives like the Fisheries Transparency Initiative would be a clear signal that Namibia is serious about reform.

This is not just about preventing corruption. It is about rebuilding trust, attracting real investment, and ensuring Namibia’s marine resources are used for broad-based development – not narrow gain.

We urge that the high-level engagement at Walvis Bay confront these issues openly and honestly, rather than repeating the tendency to sidestep or obscure them, as has too often happened in the past.

Fishrot showed us what happens in the dark. It’s time to switch on the lights.

– Graham Hopwood is the Institute for Public Policy Research’s executive director.

*Read the IPPR’s previous paper on the issue at https://ippr.org.na/publication/after-fishrot-urgent-need-for-transparency-accountability/

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