THE German state bank KfW Development Bank has suspended funds to the programme for communal land development (PCLD) it runs with the land reform ministry due to allegations of corruption levelled against a director in the ministry.
In a letter dated 22 June 2018, sent to land reform permanent secretary Peter Amutenya, KfW’s Piet Kleffmann directed the ministry to suspend all disbursements from “our fund for the PCLD, and not to resume any award of contract to be financed by our funds until the issue has been clarified to our satisfaction”.
“As soon as a suspicion of this severity is existent, it is our fiduciary duty to undertake specific measures in order to avoid any possible misuse of our funds,” the letter states.
The payment of consulting services was also transferred to the bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, and the ministry was requested to provide signatories when requesting funds.
According to a 28 June 2018 letter, signing for funds can be done by Amutenya or the ministry’s financial adviser (a Ms Du Toit) and deputy permanent secretary Esther Lusepani.
Land reform director Petrus Nangolo, according to the letter, “is not an eligible signatory at this point”.
The suspension came after a certain contractor complained about delayed payments for work done, and claimed corruption was involved.
has seen a letter from the contractor, who refused to be mentioned, addressed to Amutenya in November last year, and spelling out the alleged corruption.
The letter claimed that land reform director Nangolo, who also oversees PCLD projects, had asked the contractor to pay him a certain amount of money in order to process payment for work done.
“The sin that I have committed here is that I declined his [Nangolo] request for money from our last payment in May 2017. I know I am not the first, and I will not be the last to complain about Mr Nangolo,” the contractor’s letter states.
has also seen legal demands from the contractor’s lawyers for the ministry to effect the payments immediately.
The spokesperson at the German embassy, Gundula Perry, yesterday referred The Namibian to the ministry for clarity on the project’s suspension.
“We would rather not comment on this issue because the issue is handled by the ministry. We would rather recommend that you enquire with the ministry about the status of the investigation of the allegations,” Perry said.
Another official at the embassy also confirmed to The Namibian that the ministry was tasked with investigating the alleged corruption, and that “everything flows from there”.
Land reform permanent secretary Amutenya yesterday, however, said he was not aware of the project suspension and the allegations of corruption against Nangolo.
“That’s news. My office is not aware of the suspension of the programme, and I am not aware of the allegations of corruption against any director in the ministry,” he stated, and also denied knowledge of the KfW letters directed to him in June.
The programme for communal land development (PCLD) seeks to improve communal farmers’ livelihoods through enhanced sustainable land management practices, improved livestock productivity, and market orientation.
The programme also helps communal farmers to secure land rights, infrastructure investments, and to access advisory services. KfW and the European Union together contribute 84% of the funds of the project, while 16% of the funding comes from the Namibian government.
