President Nangolo Mbumba has called on the police, Anti-Corruption Commission and others to work on keeping Namibia “corruption free”.
According to Mbumba, this comes after citizens expressed concern regarding corruption in the energy sector.
“I would like to call upon our law enforcement agencies, the Namibian Police, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the judiciary, parliament, the media, and all our citizens to continue to play their respective roles to keep Namibia transparent and corruption free,” Mbumba said during the opening of Cabinet in Windhoek yesterday.
However, the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that Namibia has made no progress in tackling public sector corruption in the last three years.
The index, released in January by Transparency International, shows that the country maintained a score of 49 out of 100 (where 100 represents low corruption levels and 0 signifies high corruption levels).
The country’s ranking remains stagnant at 59th out of 180 nations, mirroring its position in the 2022 CPI report.
Political analyst Rui Tyitende said Mbumba’s remarks should be welcomed as no one benefits from corruption.
“At the ideological level, we should all welcome the remarks made by president Mbumba. No ordinary citizen benefits from corruption.”
However, he added that Swapo has a tendency of not punishing wrongdoing, even among individuals that have been convicted of corruption.
“Reality has proven that Swapo, and its leadership in government, does not have a culture of punishing wrongdoing. Within its ranks there are individuals that have been convicted of corruption but still serving within its structures,” said Tyitende.
Additionally, Tyitende said corruption is the way the rich end up rich.
“The rich (black and white) are seen to have gotten where they are by entering into deals with the powerful and the powerful are seen to have accumulated power by entering into deals with the rich,” said Tyitende.
In its most recent report, the Public Service Commission (PSC) listed corruption reported in the government within the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security.
“The regional offices of the ministry seem to be prone to abuse and corruption due to a lack of strict supervision and control in the area of issuance of national documents,” notes the report.
The commission also flagged the then finance ministry for solicitation and bribes.
“The PSC is also aware of pocket incidents where some staff members accept or solicit bribes to carry out their duties. This behaviour is construed as corrupt and has the effect of compromising proper adherence to established norms and systems in the ministry and the public service,” the report reads.
It is believed that Namibia has recorded progress on e-citizenship and online services, but stagnated on control for corruption for the rest.
Speaking to The Namibian in January, political analyst Henning Melber said Namibia stagnating in the CPI can be seen as the proverbial glass that is half full and half empty at the same time.
“It is half full, because it means Namibia has not scored less, and it’s half empty, because of no improvements,” Melber said.
He cautioned that one needs to keep in mind that the CPI is based on publicly recorded perceptions, which means that the real degree of corruption is not assessed.
“Simply for that reason, you cannot assess corruption not publicly revealed and discussed. So the CPI simply records that in the Namibian public sphere not much has changed when it comes to the perception of corruption,” Melber said.
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