Quo Vadis The ACC

I SEE the Anti-Corruption Commission, long derided as a toothless tiger, is at last swinging into action.

First they moved into shiny new offices. Then they arrested the chief accountant of the National Assembly, and now they are going to go around the country arresting all the other Chief Accountants, which is a good starting point.But why stop there? Once the momentum is going, they should slap the ‘cuffs on every corrupt official and member of Government they can find.Many would applaud this, but there are two problems: We would have no Government left; Where would we keep all the arrested officials? Let me deal with the second point first.Obviously there is no space in Namibian jails for all the corrupt officials, but we could ask the US if we could borrow their secret prisons in Romania and Poland, and there might be still some room in Guantanamo.This would have the added advantage that the corrupt suspects would simply disappear forever, and we would not have the bother of trying them.If we have no Government left, we would be in a similar state to Somalia which has had no government for 15 years, but we might do it better, since we do not have the trouble caused by Islamists and clan factions etc., and we have a bigger tourist industry than Somalia.Provided we can avoid being invaded by Ethiopia or the US, we might achieve the ultimate in what some political theorists advocate – small government, in fact a government so small it has vanished.Of course, the members of the ACC would still be around, so they would become the de facto government.Maybe that is what they are working towards – their ‘hidden agenda’.STOP PRESS: Cancel the above! Today we hear that “fingers are being pointed” at the top brass of the ACC because of extra salary payments made to them.We might have known…Anti-Corruption Anarchist Via e-mail Note: Real name and address provided – Ed In Support Of Wallie Roux WE are deeply concerned to hear that Wallie Roux, economic analyst with Meatco in Namibia, has been suspended and faces a disciplinary hearing (with the possible result of his dismissal) for publishing articles and delivering a speech (in his personal capacity) critical of the negotiations with the European Union (EU) over the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA).We recently published a report called ‘Partnership under Pressure: An assessment of the European Commission’s conduct in the EPA negotiations’ that exposes a series of strong-arm tactics being used by the European Commission (EC) to force African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to sign trade deals that will benefit rich nations at the expense of developing countries.We are fully aware of the immense pressure being placed on stakeholders in the ACP within the EPA negotiations.Despite the fact that the main objective of EPAs is supposedly to foster economic development based on the principle of partnership, the EU is racking up a catalogue of abuses as negotiators vigorously pursue the negotiations using threats and manipulation which will hinder, not enhance, development in the ACP countries.Wallie Roux raises crucial concerns with EPAs and their potential impacts on African countries, including Namibia.He is not alone.Opposition to EPAs as currently being pursued by the EU is far-reaching.Parliamentarians and civil society from across the EU and ACP, as well as ACP governments themselves are increasingly expressing fundamental concerns about EPAs.In the context of negotiations between such politically and economically unequal partners as the EC and ACP and the strong-arm tactics being used by the EC, it is vital that concerns being voiced by ACP players such as Mr Roux are amplified and seriously considered and addressed.They should not be unfairly suspended from their employment.Mari Griffith, Tearfund Sophie Powell, Traidcraft Tzvetelina Arsova, Christian AidThen they arrested the chief accountant of the National Assembly, and now they are going to go around the country arresting all the other Chief Accountants, which is a good starting point.But why stop there? Once the momentum is going, they should slap the ‘cuffs on every corrupt official and member of Government they can find.Many would applaud this, but there are two problems: We would have no Government left; Where would we keep all the arrested officials? Let me deal with the second point first.Obviously there is no space in Namibian jails for all the corrupt officials, but we could ask the US if we could borrow their secret prisons in Romania and Poland, and there might be still some room in Guantanamo.This would have the added advantage that the corrupt suspects would simply disappear forever, and we would not have the bother of trying them.If we have no Government left, we would be in a similar state to Somalia which has had no government for 15 years, but we might do it better, since we do not have the trouble caused by Islamists and clan factions etc., and we have a bigger tourist industry than Somalia.Provided we can avoid being invaded by Ethiopia or the US, we might achieve the ultimate in what some political theorists advocate – small government, in fact a government so small it has vanished.Of course, the members of the ACC would still be around, so they would become the de facto government.Maybe that is what they are working towards – their ‘hidden agenda’.STOP PRESS: Cancel the above! Today we hear that “fingers are being pointed” at the top brass of the ACC because of extra salary payments made to them.We might have known…Anti-Corruption Anarchist Via e-mail Note: Real name and address provided – Ed In Support Of Wallie Roux WE are deeply concerned to hear that Wallie Roux, economic analyst with Meatco in Namibia, has been suspended and faces a disciplinary hearing (with the possible result of his dismissal) for publishing articles and delivering a speech (in his personal capacity) critical of the negotiations with the European Union (EU) over the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA).We recently published a report called ‘Partnership under Pressure: An assessment of the European Commission’s conduct in the EPA negotiations’ that exposes a series of strong-arm tactics being used by the European Commission (EC) to force African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to sign trade deals that will benefit rich nations at the expense of developing countries.We are fully aware of the immense pressure being placed on stakeholders in the ACP within the EPA negotiations.Despite the fact that the main objective of EPAs is supposedly to foster economic development based on the principle of partnership, the EU is racking up a catalogue of abuses as negotiators vigorously pursue the negotiations using threats and manipulation which will hinder, not enhance, development in the ACP countries.Wallie Roux raises crucial concerns with EPAs and their potential impacts on African countries, including Namibia.He is not alone.Opposition to EPAs as currently being pursued by the EU is far-reaching.Parliamentarians and civil society from across the EU and ACP, as well as ACP governments themselves are increasingly expressing fundamental concerns about EPAs.In the context of negotiations between such politically and economically unequal partners as the EC and ACP and the strong-arm tactics being used by the EC, it is vital that concerns being voiced by ACP players such as Mr Roux are amplified and seriously considered and addressed.They should not be unfairly suspended from their employment.Mari Griffith, Tearfund Sophie Powell, Traidcraft Tzvetelina Arsova, Christian Aid