EDITORIAL: ACC’s lords-and-peasants regime deplorable
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has set a deplorable precedent in the manner it has handled the case of higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi.
We do not recall cases in which public officials have simply been asked to pay back what they have illegally taken from state coffers, and the matter ends there.
The fact that ACC asked Kandjii-Murangi to pay back the money means the minister’s conduct was outside the framework of law. Her conduct was illegal, but it’s being treated like it was an innocent human error.
Public enterprises minister Ipumbu Shiimi already made it clear last year: There is no law allowing entities to bankroll trips of their line ministers.
If there’s no such law, which legal tool did the minister use to dig her hands into the coffers of the University of Namibia, the Namibia University of Science and Technology and the Namibia Training Authority?
Will this special treatment be extended to other would-be ‘offenders’? Just this week, ACC proudly paraded an agriculture ministry official whom it arrested for allegedly accepting a N$600 bribe, yet the minister who illegally took N$900 000 from parastatals under her ministry is simply asked to pay back the money.
To make matters worse, ACC attacked the executive director of the higher education ministry for Kandjii-Murangi’s sins, and warned him to watch his conduct going forward.
This lords-and-peasants attitude, where the weight of criminality is determined by the social standing of those investigated, does not belong in a democratic society. If ACC cannot impartially carry out its mandate, close it down.
We do not recall cases in which public officials have simply been asked to pay back what they have illegally taken from state coffers, and the matter ends there.
The fact that ACC asked Kandjii-Murangi to pay back the money means the minister’s conduct was outside the framework of law. Her conduct was illegal, but it’s being treated like it was an innocent human error.
Public enterprises minister Ipumbu Shiimi already made it clear last year: There is no law allowing entities to bankroll trips of their line ministers.
If there’s no such law, which legal tool did the minister use to dig her hands into the coffers of the University of Namibia, the Namibia University of Science and Technology and the Namibia Training Authority?
Will this special treatment be extended to other would-be ‘offenders’? Just this week, ACC proudly paraded an agriculture ministry official whom it arrested for allegedly accepting a N$600 bribe, yet the minister who illegally took N$900 000 from parastatals under her ministry is simply asked to pay back the money.
To make matters worse, ACC attacked the executive director of the higher education ministry for Kandjii-Murangi’s sins, and warned him to watch his conduct going forward.
This lords-and-peasants attitude, where the weight of criminality is determined by the social standing of those investigated, does not belong in a democratic society. If ACC cannot impartially carry out its mandate, close it down.
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