RDP questions anti-corruption march

THE scheduled march against corruption organised by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Women’s Action for Development (WAD) next week, with Government leaders and other important people participating, has drawn criticism from the RDP opposition party.

The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) said the intentions behind the march might be good, ‘but one wonders how Namibia’s citizens can ever expose corruption, as political integrity remains questionable’. ‘We find it useless to display superficial activities when indeed the statement that ‘justice shall always prevail’ remains just that, a statement and not a reality in Namibia,’ RDP Information Secretary Jeremiah Nambinga told reporters. ‘Being vocal about generalisations in tackling corruption is not the answer, as there is little done practically to tackle it. ‘The formation of the ACC was a necessity due to the delays and ineffectiveness of Police investigations in corruption cases, but we fail to understand the logic of the instructions from the Attorney General’s Office recently that the ACC should drop cases that precede its formation in 2005,’ Nambinga criticised.’It is our fear that such legal advice is not only a total contradiction of the pledge that President Hifikepunye Pohamba made at his inauguration on March 21 2005 with regard to zero tolerance for corruption,’ said Nambinga.It would be better if either the Office of the Attorney General or the Justice Ministry could come up with an amendment to the ACC Act to ensure that cases predating the formation of the ACC are dealt with, the RDP leader suggested. ‘Cases where millions have gone missing, like N$100 million at the Offshore Development Company (ODC), and the N$650 million of the Developmental Capital Portfolio of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), which went into bad investments, are still waiting for decisions top be persecuted,’ Nambinga said.’The ODC case is still waiting for the Prosecutor General’s Office to be dealt with and we are still awaiting decision on whether or not legal action is to be taken. One cannot help but wonder if there are certain individuals that are being protected as they serve in the ‘Big Fish’ category. It is a shame that we only hear of the small cases coming to light when the big fish are yet to emerge – if they will ever emerge.’Another case cited by the RDP leader was N$30 million that had disappeared in the Avid Investment company. Avid had obtained the N$30 million from the State-owned Social Security Commission (SSC) to invest for allegedly lucrative returns. The perpetrators have still not been brought to book. ‘The millions lost could have rather been used to address social problems such as youth education, training, development, poverty alleviation, employment creation and schemes and addressing the plight of war veterans,’ Nambinga concluded.