The government decided not to dispose of the government objective fishing quota through Fishcor because of criticisms in both print and electronic.
Information minister Dr Peya Mushelenga said this on Sunday, adding that the decision was along made not use Fishcor because of the ongoing investigation.
Mushelenga, who was a panellist at the Covid-19 Communication Centre in Windhoek, said the public auctioning of the objective quota was meant to create transparency.
Apart from transparency, Mushelenga said it would test the market to ascertaining the true value of the natural resources reserved for Governmental objective.
He also said the new approach would ensure a more transparent, objective and credible method of disposing of the governmental quota.
Furthermore, he said the auctioning of the quotas would achieve accountability in that the proceeds, unlike in the past, will directly be paid into the State Revenue account to preventing
any further abuse.
The other reason Mushelenga gave is that auctioning would ensure that the proceeds from the quota are part of the budget tabled in Parliament to enable the legislature to have oversight over the Executive.
Last, he said, the Auditor General would audit the budget as allocated to various Votes of O/M/A/S with a view to preventing any further abuse.
“The new method of disposal of the governmental objective quota has been approved in good faith and it is not intended to disrupt the normal operation of the sector, including employment created by the sector, as the commercial quota is still the largest quota that directly benefits the Namibian economy through value addition that creates the most employment,” he said.
