Martin Endjala
The Popular Democratic Movement Leader, Mchenry Venaani is of the opinion that the government’s inability to curb corruption is killing the country and that the matter must be addressed urgently to protect against state capture.
He said this yesterday during a Parliament session while motivating a motion calling for an assessment of power struggles in corporate governance in terms of corruption in the country particularly in the state-owned enterprises such as NAMCOR, which of late has come under fire while its Managing Director, Immanuel Mulunga is currently on suspension and reports of disputes amongst its board members.
Venanni argued that noncompliance by people in corporate governance is among the main issues of economic transition the country is facing today. He said that state-owned corporations have been captured by individuals who are running them to what he terms as mafia style.
He alleged in his motivation motion that the revelations and discovery of corruption, emanating from the National Petroleum Company (NAMCOR) plugged into a state of incompliance are worrisome and he is calling on the government to urgently address the situation before it collapses.
He is of the view that one of the contributing factors to corruption is the delay in the implementation of the long-awaited whistleblower act. He said the delay indicates that government is not serious about preventing corruption in the country.
“How can a country with a Gross Domestic Product estimated to be two billion Namibian Dollars, say that they are unable to enact the whistleblower act due to a lack of funds, when these are some of the measures needed to combat corruption in the country,” argued Venaani.
He stressed that it is high time that the government put an end to its secrecy and start being open about things, as this is one of the power struggles he has observed of late where organizations are seeking data and the government is often unresponsive.
Venaani added that such behaviour only creates more questions and if things continue this way, the government will find itself in a state of no return and risk losing citizens’ trust.
The Information Bill which was enacted recently is seen as a tool to address some of these issues.
The Minister of Information Communications and Technology Peya Mushelenga during an information training workshop on Monday, called on government office bearers to up their game and respond with the requested information promptly and accordingly.
Meanwhile, Venaani wants the government to apply systemic approaches in combating corruption before it’s too late.
He also wants the motion to be referred to a relevant standing committee so that legislators can summon some of these directors to answer why they act like gangsters.
