Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) executive director, Graham Hopwood, has said there has been a lack of transparency on the management of Covid-19 funds.
He was speaking yesterday during the 2022 African Anti-Corruption Day celebrated under the theme, ‘Strategies and mechanisms for the transparent management of Covid-19 funds’.
Hopwood said IPPR has picked up a few issues, which could either be corruption or red flags.
“The national disaster fund has little information. Having reported that N$28,5 million has been donated, there has been very little public transparency on what this fund is doing. It’s the role of the auditor general to see how the money has been handled and spent,” he said.
Furthermore, Hopwood also said very little has been reported on how the basic income grants that were introduced in March 2020 were handled.
“There has been very little reported on how it was handled except that N$567 million was spent on 756 000 beneficiaries.
There was never a proper handling evaluation of what happened there,” he said.
He also said there are some red flags and lack of access to information in relation to pandemic procurement contracts.
“We tried to access information relating to the Covid-19-related contracts on Google. A very few bidders, and only one bidder invited to tender, a few contracts awarded, according to normal contract procedures,” he said.
Hopwood said some of the companies listed are untraceable even at the Business and Intellectual Property Authority and there were short tender periods.
Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director general Erna van Der Merwe said they did not receive complaints of corruption cases involving the direct management of Covid-19 funds that warranted investigations.
“There is no doubt corruption thrives in times of crisis and the ongoing global pandemic has not been an exception,” she said.
Van der Merwe said the government had employed various mechanisms for the transparent management of Covid-19 funds, such as the Office of the Prime Minister publicly issuing updates on Covid-19 donations and expenditure regularly.
The executive director of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Ben Nangombe, denied that there were no clear records on the funds and Covid-19 procurement contracts.
“There is a clear track record and recording of the donations as they came in. We also have a record on Covid-19-related procurement contracts,” he said.
Nangombe said officials were put in charge of the donations received by Namibia from various institutions.
ACC AND THE MEDIA
Media ombudsman John Nakuta said the media plays a vital role in fighting corruption and through investigative journalism, cases such as the Fishrot were uncovered.
However, he said the registration of SIM cards by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia is sabotaging the work of investigative journalists.
“This has a serious effect on investigative journalists. Who would want to blow the whistle if they know they can be traced?” Nakuta said.
Journalist and Namibia Media Professionals Union secretary general Jemima Beukes said sometimes journalists refrain from reporting cases because they do not have enough power.
“We have seen a number of court cases against journalists and journalists usually report on tips they receive from the public and go out of their way to ensure they have relevant documents,” she said.
Beukes stressed the need for ACC to work with the media as partners.
“ACC is working on its own, the media are working on their own to fight corruption. When it comes to information-sharing, the media are not seen as partners. We have to scramble for information on our own,” she said.
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