Staff Writer
ACC director Paulus Noa says that Namibia’s ranking as one of the least corrupt countries in the world is due to political commitment and good leadership.
Noa said citizens will feel proud when Namibia is ranked by international and regional ranking institutions as one of the few least corrupt countries globally and continentally.
Noa said this on Thursday as the ACC held its National Anti-Corruption Strategy steering committee meeting at the Namibian Institute of Public Administration and Management (Nipam) in Windhoek.
“The accolades are attributed to political commitment and good leadership to date enjoyed in Namibia,” he said. He added that the strategy has been hailed by different foreign authorities and reviewers, because of its unique provisions of implementing and monitoring mechanisms.
His comments come despite Namibia, earlier this year, falling two places-from 56 to 58, on the Corruption Perceptions Index as reported by Transparency International.
The meeting was to update members of the steering committee
on the implementation progress, and challenges encountered by the clusters and also discuss pertinent issues pertaining to the effective implementation of the ACC strategy.
On 16 March 2022, the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2025 was officially launched by prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.
“It is expected that political heads of public institutions are kept abreast with implementation progress by the administrative heads of their respective institutions,” said ACC director general Paulus Noa.
“It creates a parliamentary committee which serves as the overall oversight body of its implementation. The parliamentary committee must demand accountability at the national level. The arrangement makes it possible to account for the progress made in the implementation of the strategy by various institutions,” he added.
He said the strategy also establishes the NACSAP steering committee which is tasked with the responsibility of monitoring, setting directions and provide leadership.
“This committee is comprised of political principals of selected O/M/As, heads of business sector bodies, civil society and media forum,” said Noa.
At the same event, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila says it is vital that there is appropriate organisation of implementation activities to ensure alignment and complementarity of actions and that resources are developed and deployed towards the implementation of the agreed actions under the strategy.
“By implementing the Anti Corruption Strategy, we influence change in society and achieve other national aspirations set out in the national development blueprints,” she said.
She added that some anti-corruption measures are of an ongoing nature, and that some activities under the strategy are from the previous strategy.
“In this regard, we need to make sure that activities under the anti-corruption strategy are mainstreamed into Strategic Plans of OMAs.”
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said any amount of resources lost to corruption is a derailment of the development goals.
“More than ever before, every cent counts. We must all be the champions of “a corrupt-free Namibia” by proactively participate in the prevention and fight against corruption.”