State House press secretary Jonas Mbambo warned public officials against taking bribes hours before president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah dismissed deputy prime minister and minister of industries, mines and energy Natangwe Ithete.
The president fired Ithete on Sunday, but did not publicly disclose the reasons for this.
Speculation mounted over the weekend that Ithete was implicated in alleged bribery involving an Angolan company, as well as South African and Russian entities.
He is also implicated in exploration or petroleum transactions.
Ithete has not responded to questions sent to him since Sunday.
Mbambo, who was appointed as the president’s spokesperson in August, appears to have hinted at the dismissal on social media.
“The calm before the storm,” he posted on Facebook on Sunday.
This was followed up with a post in which Mbambo said individuals who choose to solicit bribes from locals or foreigners should stop as this damages the public service’s reputation.
“Fellow Namibians, we cannot allow the reputation of our country or our public service to be damaged by a few rotten apples who choose to solicit bribes from locals and foreigners just to do their jobs. It is nonsense and it must stop,” he wrote.
Mbambo said when public servants accept to serve, they do so with full knowledge of the responsibility and the salary that comes with it.
“Asking people to pay extra for what you are already paid to do is not only wrong, it is a betrayal of public trust,” he said.
Such people, he said, “can sell off information, compromise systems, and undermine everything being built, because they have no moral foundation, no sense of duty, and no loyalty to the nation”.
He added that those who engage in such acts should take his words as a stern warning.
“The writing is on the wall. Just like King Belshazzar in the days of Daniel, your deeds are being weighed, and the day of reckoning will come. Every Namibian, whether in a village or in the city, deserves honest and efficient service,” he said.
Mbambo called on the public to normalise reporting those who abuse their positions, saying protecting the corrupt only weakens institutions meant to serve the nation.
“This country belongs to each one of us. Let us take pride in doing what is right, not what is easy,” he posted.
Responding to Mbambo’s social media statement, National Unity Democratic Organisation leader Vetaruhe Kandorozu yesterday said Namibians deserve to know why the third-highest ranking person in the government was removed with no reason provided.
“She can’t hire and fire and she wants to keep quiet as if she is at her own farm. Even at the farm you are required to follow the labour law. Therefore, the Constitution gives us power to know anything regarding our government,” he said.
Kandorozu said the president must inform the public, while questioning why she is comfortable with keeping the country’s natural resources and minerals under her watch as president.
“What is going on? Why is she protecting the perpetrators and ignoring the victims by allowing them to thumb-suck information, while their deputy minister and a minister is fired. We deserve to know. She must refrain from keeping public information secret,” Kandorozu said.
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