On 31 October 2003, the United Nations General Assembly designated December 9 as International Anti-Corruption Day to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the
United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in combating and preventing it.
In Namibia, it’s time to stop thinking of corruption as “just a way of life” for those who want to get rich quick at the expense of the development of the nation and to start saying “NO” to this crime. The #FishRot Scandal has acted as a massive wake-up call for Namibian policymakers and society at large. Namibians should refuse to participate in any activities
that are not legal and transparent. It’s time to enforce zero-tolerance practices towards corruption.
The IPPR concurs with Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), who stated in his message for International Anti-Corruption Day 2019: “We cannot afford to let corruption threaten our future. Standing united against corruption, we are standing up for justice, protecting the rule of law and increasing the
chances that prosperity in our societies can be enjoyed by all.”
In view of President Geingob’s stated “zero tolerance for corruption”, the IPPR would like to suggest the following actions that can be taken by the President in concert with the Cabinet and relevant Swapo party bodies. Several of these actions will strengthen the “processes, systems and institutions” that the President often refers to:
- Remove all those convicted of corruption from the Swapo party list.
- Institute an official inquiry into the allocation of fishing quotas and rights headed by a judge or senior lawyer.
- Make public the Ministers’ declarations of interests and assets (at the moment they are made privately to the President).
- Implement the Whistleblower Protection Act which was passed more than two years ago but never operationalised
- Commit to establishing a public beneficial ownership register for all extractive industries (mining, oil, gas, and fisheries)
- Commit Namibia to joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the global standard for good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources.
- Ensure a world-class, state of the art Access to Information (ATI) law is introduced in parliament in the near future.
- Publicly declare your assets and interests once more – as you commendably did in 2015.
Much more can be done to fight corruption and we all have a role to pay but these are eight steps that would demonstrate a commitment in keeping with a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to corruption.
#breakthechain
#unitedagainstcorruption
Download the full statement here.
Further details:
Graham Hopwood,
Institute for Public Policy Research
Tel: 240 514
Cell: 081 231 9722
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