I’m just a victim, says Namugongo

THE corruption charges that he has faced for the past three years are the product of his allegiance to Swapo and a bad relationship with the previous Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, former Ministry of Environment and Tourism official Sackey Namugongo claimed in the Windhoek Regional Court yesterday.

‘I’ve been a victim of circumstances by Dr Malan Lindeque. Because of my allegiance to Swapo,’ Namugongo told Magistrate Sarel Jacobs as he continued with testimony in his own defence after a break of three and a half weeks in his trial.’I don’t expect Dr Malan Lindeque to say anything good about me,’ Namugongo added, having told the court that he had a ‘very, very bad’ relationship with the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.Lindeque, who is now the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, was still the PS in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism when Namugongo was arrested on corruption charges on September 17 2006.Namugongo (57) pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of corruption, alternatively theft, and 20 counts of fraud, alternatively forgery and uttering, at the start of his trial in July last year.He is accused of having corruptly received more than N$330 000 from people who wanted to apply for gambling house licences that would allow them to operate gambling machines in Namibia. It is alleged that Namugongo received the money from gambling house licence applicants from March to September 2006.This allegedly took place while a freeze on the issuing of gambling house licences was in place. The moratorium has been in force since 1997.In the course of the trial, 17 prosecution witnesses have told the court that they paid a total of N$332 500 to Namugongo. Of this amount, N$43 000 was deposited into Namugongo’s bank account, while the rest was handed to Namugongo in cash, the witnesses claimed.Namugongo has told the court that he never received any of the alleged cash payments.Cash deposits that he made into his bank account during the period covered by the charges were of money he had earned for other work that he did in his free time, outside the scope of his employment with the Ministry, Namugongo testified yesterday.He said this work included appearances on the NBC television service, work for the Swapo Party, of which he has been a member for many years, and the writing of business and project proposals that he had been doing for other clients. Some of these clients paid him in cash, and he deposited these earnings in his bank accounts, he claimed.Namugongo said in the time that he was a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism he handled more than 60 applications for gambling house licences. He is surprised that ’15 or 16 of these people’ are now claiming to have paid cash to him.’I’m even surprised. I’m shocked,’ Namugongo said.He said he was also surprised when he heard Lindeque and a former Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ndeutapo Amagulu, testify during his trial that the Ministry did not accept any gambling house licence applications, due to the moratorium in the issuing of the licences, in the time that Namugongo allegedly received applications of this sort.He thought it was hypocritical of them to give such testimony, as Lindeque had in fact also instructed him to receive gambling house applications while the moratorium is in place, Namugongo claimed.That was at a time when, while there were some 5 000 gambling machines being operated in Namibia, only about 1 500 of these were legally licensed, he said.According to Namugongo, the problem that Lindeque had with him was because of the outside work he was doing in his free time.Namugongo also said he was unearthing maladministration in the division where he was a Deputy Director, and because of this some of the officials in the Ministry were trying to turn around the situation against him.He said in early September 2006, he had discovered a fake gambling licence in the Ministry and had alerted his seniors about this.’I was basically the whistle-blower,’ he claimed.He then travelled to South Africa for a meeting, and was arrested on his return to Namibia.’I was just about to open a Pandora’s box. And in order to silence me, they had to turn this thing around,’ he told the Magistrate.Namugongo is set to continue with his testimony under cross-examination from Deputy Prosecutor General Orben Sibeya today. He is being represented by defence lawyer Titus Mbaeva.