Nowhere in the asset register

As of December 2022, seven months after the deadline for members of parliament to declare their assets, only 39% had done so.

Those whose names did not appear on the register by the end of 2022, according to a report by the Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR), include Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, and opposition leaders Mike Kavekotora and Bernadus Swartbooi.

According to the IPPR, of the 104 members in the National Assembly, only 41 submitted asset and interest declaration forms for the 2022/23 financial year.

Others who had not declared their assets include presidential affairs minister Christine /Hoebes, transport minister John Mutorwa, defence minister Frans Kapofi, education minister Anna Nghipondoka, information minister Peya Mushelenga and labour minister Utoni Nujoma.

Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein, usually the first to declare his assets, did not appear on the register either.

Fisheries minister Derek Klazen, finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi, and health deputy minister Ester Muinjangue were also notably absent, while other deputy ministers who did not appear on the assets register by December included Emma Kantema-Gaomas (sport, youth and national service), Jenelly Matundu (international relations), Kornelia Shilunga (mines), Emma Theofelus (ICT), Faustina Caley (education), Verna Sinimbo (trade) and Royal /Ui/o/oo (marginalised communities).

All the assets and interests of members of parliament should be recorded on an annual basis. The register is managed by the secretariats of the National Assembly and National Council respectively.

For the National Assembly, members of parliament are required to file their declarations by 30 April every year.

“However, the timely and comprehensive filing of such declarations have been persistent issues in the National Assembly, with reports over the years showing that members did not adhere to the rules on deadlines and even failed to submit declarations for specific financial years,” the IPPR said.

Odd

Yesterday, Nandi-Ndaitwah said she submitted all her declarations to her secretary for filing.

“My secretary confirmed that she submitted my declaration to parliament, so it’s odd that this does not reflect in the register,” Nandi-Ndaitwah, potentially Namibia’s next president, told Namibian Sun.

Kapofi fumed at his name not being on the register, saying he submitted his declaration.

“They [IPPR] should have called me. It’s totally inaccurate; I [declare] my assets every year,” the defence minister said.

The IPPR report only contains names of those who submitted their declarations.

The National Assembly secretariat has historically not effectively upheld and enforced the institution’s rules, arguably fuelling the culture of lax compliance among members, the IPPR report said.

Kavekotora admitted that he did not declare his assets this time around.

“I was out of the country [when the deadline approached], but my financial position has remained the same. I’ve nothing to hide.”

‘Scandalous’

On parliamentarians who insist they made their declarations but seem to be omitted from the register, IPPR veteran researcher Frederico Links said: "Those were the facts and we saw the list. If they declared later, by all means - but by that point in time, it was only 41 names."

He added that it was ‘scandalous’ that parliamentarians continue to ignore the rules and laws they themselves made.

"There is lack of accountability and a culture of non-compliance."

According to the IPPR, compliance with the rules dogged the 2022/2023 register of members’ assets and interests.

This is despite the National Assembly’s code of conduct making it clear that declaring assets and interests is a transparency and integrity mechanism meant to track changes in the income and wealth of members.

The institute noted that compliance with and enforcement of the provisions of the code of conduct have been less than optimal over the last 20 years, since it emerged in 2002.

According to records, only 66 members out of the 104 declared their assets and interests for the 2021/2022 financial year.

“That is a compliance rate of just over 63%, but that is almost double the compliance rate of 2022/2023 by 1 December 2022.

Pandemic to blame

Meanwhile, National Assembly secretary Lydia Kandetu said members’ compliance with and the secretariat’s enforcement of the code of conduct had been hampered over recent years by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is why deadlines had often been delayed, she said.

For instance, according to declaration forms, the deadline for the 2022/2023 financial year was 7 July 2022.

Kandetu told IPPR that from the 2023/2024 financial year, members will again be required to adhere to the 30 April deadline.

The code of conduct and the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament Act make provision for the committee of privileges in the National Assembly to investigate members’ compliance with regards to submissions, following a complaint or on its own accord.

However, the committee has never conducted any investigation of the sort, the report noted.

National Council

The National Council appears to have historically fared better than the National Assembly in terms of compliance with declaring assets and interests.

Of the 42 members, 29 submitted declarations by 1 December 2022.

That equates to a 69% declaration rate.