EDITORIAL Reams and reams of newspaper have already been used up by the Fishrot saga, which will still drag on for years, while the repercussions continue to haunt ordinary families, especially those of fishermen.President Hage Geingob said in December 2019 that corruption is not systemic in Namibia, and that perceptions have been created that Namibia is a corrupt society.
Yet what has become increasingly clear is that we have evolved into a culture of kickbacks, whether it be cops wanting ‘cooldrink’ money to not write a speeding ticket or those who would sell the crown jewels of this nation just so they can drive around with their side-chicks and Ben 10s in luxury sports cars and SUVs.
For too long, public procurement has been the target of greedy officials who get kickbacks from deliberately overpriced contracts and other ways to channel everything under the sun through the backdoor. It has been a long-held assertion that there are those in government who are clearly abusing their positions in order to continue their nefarious activities.
In this so-called ‘Year of Resilience’, there must certainly also be action. We can list a host of tenders where the cost either ballooned or the necessary safeguards were not put in place to protect taxpayers against a shocking escalation linked to foreign currency fluctuations. Yet the officials and even politicians involved continue to wield power and act as if nothing happened.
Of course, this points to some kind of benefit accruing to those who have allowed these kinds of shenanigans. As much as the country’s economic troubles can be traced back to external shocks, it was in fact the kind of spending like there’s no tomorrow that can be blamed for the current woes.
The kickback artists need to answer and should be held accountable for the horrors they have caused. Corruption did not start and end with the Fishrot bribery scandal and we should certainly not fall into the trap of thinking so!