WINDHOEK - President Hage Geingob has maintained that corruption is not systemic in Namibia, but perceptions have been created that Namibia is a corrupt society. 

Recalling some of the challenges and success stories during 2019, Geingob noted the issue of corruption was only raised twice during his town hall meetings. 

Nevertheless, he said although corruption is not systemic in Namibia, the actions of a few corrupt officials have tainted the name of the country.

He maintained it is, therefore, important for public service officials to emphasise that corruption in any form, such as kickbacks or percentage commission for the number of contracts, is unacceptable. 

His comments came at a time when corruption in Namibia’s fishing industry has been unveiled, exposing former ministers Bernhard Esau and Sacky Shanghala for allegedly accepting bribes through the allocation of fishing quotas. The two former ministers have since been arrested and their bail application has been denied.

“We are aware of the current corruption storm in the fishing sector, which has coincided with the build up to the Presidential and National Assembly elections. We have seen the anger of the people, especially those who have had their livelihoods destroyed as a result of corrupt practices,” the president remarked. 

According to him, anybody would be angry, and this has been a wake-up call for government to re-double its efforts to promote greater accountability and transparency across all sectors. 

He said the fact is those involved in the infamous fishing sector corruption case are no longer ministers and their offices are now open for proper investigations to take place. 

“As a law-abiding society, we believe in processes, systems and institutions. For this reason, we will allow those implicated to be tried under due process of the law,” he emphasised. 

Geingob also remarked it is pertinent for the government to work on a law that will clearly define election donations and campaign contributions to political parties to eliminate the grey area in which they currently operate. 

He is hopeful the government will have more successful moments next year, and that it will be able to learn from the lessons of 2019, working on tangible solutions to guarantee sustained economic growth and job creation in Namibia.