EDITORIAL: You were forewarned
Auditor-General Junias Kandjeke seemingly has no iota of doubt in his mind that the funds meant to fight the scourge of Covid-19 were not fully accounted for – as per his audit report into the matter.
But that’s not the baffling part. Signs were there all along that something was amiss in the handling of this money, so there’s no surprise here. Perhaps what must worry Namibians now is that no state law enforcement agency seems to have appetite to act on the matter. Kandjeke says he is hamstrung by law, while the Anti-Corruption Commission says someone must bring the matter to its doorstep.
To Kandjeke’s credit, he brought to light – in excruciating detail - what the looters may have hoped would remain in darkness. Until every cent is accounted for, which is currently not the case, we will insist - without fear of contradiction - that indeed there was plundering.
The manner in which these million-dollar contracts were placed into the laps of the politically-connected was always suspect. Already in late 2020, the media and other watchdogs such as the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) rang alarm bells over the manner in which the contracts were dished out without any shred of credibility.
In 2021, the health ministry had to be stopped in its tracks from roping in middlemen into the procurement of Covid vaccines, through which the bulk of the budgeted N$583 million would have ended up buying Range Rovers instead of medicine.
But that’s not the baffling part. Signs were there all along that something was amiss in the handling of this money, so there’s no surprise here. Perhaps what must worry Namibians now is that no state law enforcement agency seems to have appetite to act on the matter. Kandjeke says he is hamstrung by law, while the Anti-Corruption Commission says someone must bring the matter to its doorstep.
To Kandjeke’s credit, he brought to light – in excruciating detail - what the looters may have hoped would remain in darkness. Until every cent is accounted for, which is currently not the case, we will insist - without fear of contradiction - that indeed there was plundering.
The manner in which these million-dollar contracts were placed into the laps of the politically-connected was always suspect. Already in late 2020, the media and other watchdogs such as the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) rang alarm bells over the manner in which the contracts were dished out without any shred of credibility.
In 2021, the health ministry had to be stopped in its tracks from roping in middlemen into the procurement of Covid vaccines, through which the bulk of the budgeted N$583 million would have ended up buying Range Rovers instead of medicine.
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