ACC clears Kandjii-Murangi, blasts ED
President’s trip approval no blank cheque, Noa says
The minister borrowed over N$900 000 from public institutions falling under her ministry in a space of three months to travel to conferences whose post-mortem reports are nowhere to be found.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has ‘seriously warned’ higher education ministry executive director Dr Alfred van Kent about the ‘potentially corrupt habit’ of requesting funds, amounting to N$930 000, from public enterprises regulated by the ministry in order to fund minister Dr Itah Kandjii-Murangi’s trips abroad.
Kandjii-Murangi has also been ordered to refund the ministry to the tune of N$46 000 by April this year, in monies accumulated from various trips she undertook, calculated and reconciled against the days she spent on those trips. Her personal assistant Lungenesia Uaseupani owes N$23 000, which must also be paid back by the same deadline.
In the span of three months from May to July 2022, Van Kent wrote to three public enterprises requesting money to fund the minister’s foreign trips, amounting to over N$930 000. Believed to have acted on the minister’s instruction, Van Kent requested N$338 546 from the Namibia Training Authority (NTA) to fund Kandjii-Murangi’s trip to England to attend an education forum in May 2022.
He returned to the NTA the following month with another request for N$140 634 as travel allowance for Kandjii-Murangi to attend a SADC education ministers’ event in Lilongwe, Malawi.
In July, Van Kent requested the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) to fund the minister’s trip to Busan, South Korea, for another conference. NUST paid N$140 634.
Later that month, he requested N$310 401 from the University of Namibia (Unam) as travel allowance for the minister’s trip to Cuba and Jamaica. Records show all the monies were ultimately paid back to the three public enterprises.
President’s approval
During ACC interrogations, Van Kent said the requests to the parastatals were made because the ministry’s own travel budget had been exhausted. He told investigators that President Hage Geingob had granted approval for the minister to undertake the trips.
ACC took issue with this explanation, saying the minister did not have to travel if there was no financial means to do so.
“It must be clearly understood by accounting officers that approval by the president to a minister to undertake an official trip is not a blank cheque that the minister must travel at all costs. The approval is subject to the availability of funds in the ministry’s budget,” the anti-graft agency said in a report seen by Namibian Sun.
ACC director-general Paulus Noa then turned his wrath to Unam, NUST and NTA.
“Public enterprises are strongly warned against allowing themselves to be turned into cash cows for subsistence-and-travel allowances by executive directors and political principals,” he remarked.
Fertile ground for corruption
Finance and public enterprises minister Ipumbu Shiimi last year told Namibian Sun that the Public Enterprises Governance Act makes no provision for institutions to foot travel allowances for their line ministers, even if the latter commits to refunding the money.
Commenting on the issue last year, activist Job Amupanda, who has been accusing Kandjii-Murangi of corruption, remarked: “If Shiimi says the Act doesn’t allow these arrangements, which law did Kandjii-Murangi rely on to get these institutions to pay for her travels?”
On Van Kent’s conduct, Noa said: “The executive director is seriously warned against the potentially corrupt habit of committing the ministry to financial debts through requests for travel payments from public enterprises, especially when conferences and meetings to be attended have no bearing to benefit such public institutions”.
“The practice is not only ethically wrong, but also creates fertile ground for corruption,” the ACC boss added.
ACC said neither Kandjii-Murangi nor Van Kent explained the relevance of the trips, nor did they provide reports detailing the nature and outcomes of those meetings.
Noa recommended that letters of approval from the presidency for ministers to travel must clearly state that such trips are subject to availability of funds in the ministry’s travel budget.
Efforts to get comment from Van Kent proved futile.
Kandjii-Murangi has also been ordered to refund the ministry to the tune of N$46 000 by April this year, in monies accumulated from various trips she undertook, calculated and reconciled against the days she spent on those trips. Her personal assistant Lungenesia Uaseupani owes N$23 000, which must also be paid back by the same deadline.
In the span of three months from May to July 2022, Van Kent wrote to three public enterprises requesting money to fund the minister’s foreign trips, amounting to over N$930 000. Believed to have acted on the minister’s instruction, Van Kent requested N$338 546 from the Namibia Training Authority (NTA) to fund Kandjii-Murangi’s trip to England to attend an education forum in May 2022.
He returned to the NTA the following month with another request for N$140 634 as travel allowance for Kandjii-Murangi to attend a SADC education ministers’ event in Lilongwe, Malawi.
In July, Van Kent requested the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) to fund the minister’s trip to Busan, South Korea, for another conference. NUST paid N$140 634.
Later that month, he requested N$310 401 from the University of Namibia (Unam) as travel allowance for the minister’s trip to Cuba and Jamaica. Records show all the monies were ultimately paid back to the three public enterprises.
President’s approval
During ACC interrogations, Van Kent said the requests to the parastatals were made because the ministry’s own travel budget had been exhausted. He told investigators that President Hage Geingob had granted approval for the minister to undertake the trips.
ACC took issue with this explanation, saying the minister did not have to travel if there was no financial means to do so.
“It must be clearly understood by accounting officers that approval by the president to a minister to undertake an official trip is not a blank cheque that the minister must travel at all costs. The approval is subject to the availability of funds in the ministry’s budget,” the anti-graft agency said in a report seen by Namibian Sun.
ACC director-general Paulus Noa then turned his wrath to Unam, NUST and NTA.
“Public enterprises are strongly warned against allowing themselves to be turned into cash cows for subsistence-and-travel allowances by executive directors and political principals,” he remarked.
Fertile ground for corruption
Finance and public enterprises minister Ipumbu Shiimi last year told Namibian Sun that the Public Enterprises Governance Act makes no provision for institutions to foot travel allowances for their line ministers, even if the latter commits to refunding the money.
Commenting on the issue last year, activist Job Amupanda, who has been accusing Kandjii-Murangi of corruption, remarked: “If Shiimi says the Act doesn’t allow these arrangements, which law did Kandjii-Murangi rely on to get these institutions to pay for her travels?”
On Van Kent’s conduct, Noa said: “The executive director is seriously warned against the potentially corrupt habit of committing the ministry to financial debts through requests for travel payments from public enterprises, especially when conferences and meetings to be attended have no bearing to benefit such public institutions”.
“The practice is not only ethically wrong, but also creates fertile ground for corruption,” the ACC boss added.
ACC said neither Kandjii-Murangi nor Van Kent explained the relevance of the trips, nor did they provide reports detailing the nature and outcomes of those meetings.
Noa recommended that letters of approval from the presidency for ministers to travel must clearly state that such trips are subject to availability of funds in the ministry’s travel budget.
Efforts to get comment from Van Kent proved futile.
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