Political Perspective

I DO agree with the head of the Namibia Employers’ Federation (NEF), Vekuii Rukoro, who this week made a call for the President to publicly release the findings of the various parastatal corruption probes held since Independence, and also for the Speaker of Parliament to reveal the Parliamentary assets register. The Government should, in addition in my view, have a clear ‘no secrets’ policy because the more openness and transparency there is in any society surely makes for a more qualitative democracy.

Government needs to begin to trust its citizens and not hide behind the cloak of confidentiality simply because they are used to doing things that way. At the end of the day it means that citizens have more questions than answers, and after all, they are surely entitled in terms of our constitutionally enshrined bill of rights to have as much freedom of access to information as possible.It is a great pity too, that the ‘spying’ clause in the now ratified Communications Act has not been deleted, for it simply adds to the perception that Government is not only keeping important information from its citizens, but that it reserves the right to spy on them as well, and these facts not bode well for an open and transparent society.At the anti-corruption march last week, Rukoro raised the issue of transparency, and it is vital for Government to endeavour to show that they are serious in their commitment to fighting corruption by revealing it to all when such evils are uncovered.There is no point in constantly saying we are serious about taking on the scourge of graft when we don’t act, or we do so only when minor infractions by lesser officials are involved, and we cover up the really big stuff!While he was not able to attend the march himself, despite a prior undertaking to do so, President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s speech (read by the Minister of Youth, National Service and Sport, Willem Konjore) again reiterates Government’s alleged (and I say this deliberately!) commitment to tackling corruption, emphasising Namibia’s signing of several international and regional protocols as proof.This, as far as I am concerned, is simply not proof enough! Anyone can sign anything, but at the end of the day, there has to be real political intent, and I’m not the only one who feels that it is severely lacking when it comes to corruption.The call for the release of the assets register, in terms of which Members of Parliament are obliged to declare their interests, is also vital when it comes to democratic accountability. For how can the people of this country be expected to select their representatives if they don’t know anything about them, yet at the same time are expected to believe they are all honest and ethical and honourables to boot! The public also needs to know when cases of conflict of interests arise on the part of MPs and this is unlikely if they’re continually kept in the dark.The ongoing revelations in the UK about the abuse of allowances on the part of MPs and top politicians is an example in point, and several have been forced to resign, or in rare cases have done so voluntarily, because they know that what they have done is wrong. We would be foolish in the extreme if we believed that such abuses are confined to that Parliament and so we need to ensure that don’t cover up what needs to be uncovered. And in the UK too, it was the media (in particularly the Telegraph) that continue to publish the ongoing revelations about MPs’ outrageous expenses claims, for the government there would not have revealed this otherwise. This also underlines the importance of the media in uncovering corruption and wrongdoing, and it also underscores the need for as much transparency as possible in order to make sure that such things are open to scrutiny by the wider society.There must be checks and balances, and if there are none, then there is bound to be graft. And this should be so regardless of what government is in power. Sometimes the ruling party takes personally what should not be personal at all. They just happen to be in power. And the media, and all the other watchdogs, would take as much interest, and make as many revelations about corruption under whatever government is in charge.It is really high time then that our Government desist its very wishy-washy approach to corruption. Surprise us all for a change, and put things out into the open. What a vast difference this would make to our country as a whole.