Africa-Press – Namibia. NEWLY appointed traditional leaders and newly elected regional council and local authority officials will face the wrath of the law if they continue to drive their own populism by allocating land outside the letter of the relevant regulations.
The Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Paulus Noa during a meeting with various authority structures in the Erongo Region, said that many of these newly appointed or elected officials made a lot of noise during their campaigns and are now overstepping the laws governing the land to keep their empty promises.
Noa made these remarks while discussing the new National Anti-corruption Strategy and Action Plan. The plan was set up to be implemented over five years and be fully functional by 2025.
He said wayward leaders are actually disrupting the system when they illegally dish out land or change bylaws to suit their own ambitions. Noa said that many local authorities are in a state of chaos because of unilateral actions by certain officials.
“Besides the administrative processes that have been perverted or used to corruptly benefit individuals, some of these decisions also have a significant impact on the natural environment and those responsible should be brought to book,” he said.
Noa pointed out that good governance should not be confused with actions that increase a leader’s popularity among voters of whom the majority fall within the low or no-income bracket.
“Looking after and providing for the welfare of people through the provision of public facilities and services should be done in accordance with existing laws,” he said.
With regard to the new National Anti-corruption Strategy and Action Plan, Noa said that once implemented and used optimally could root out corruption on all levels of Namibian society.
