We don’t have Ludwigsdorf here, Hamunyela tells Fishrot accused

Namibia Correctional Service Commissioner-General Raphael Hamunyela has told the Fishrot accused, who have approached Ombudsman Basilius Dyakugha with a compliant that they are being moved to ‘communal cells’ at the Windhoek correctional facility, that there is no Ludwigsdorf in jail.

Two of the accused in the fishing quota bribery scandal, former justice minister Sackeus Shanghala and his business partner James Hatuikulipi, wrote a letter to Dyakugha, asking for his urgent intervention to ensure that none of the 10 accused men are moved to the section of the facility where perceived ‘common criminals’ are kept.

Namibian Sun understands that the Fishrot accused, with the exception of Shanghala and former fisheries minister Bernhardt Esau, will be transferred from the less chaotic C section of the prison to the general population section.

“I am informed that the commissioners found unauthorised software/devices on the computers of two of the Fishrot suspects, but not on those two complainants [Shanghala and Hatuikulipi],” Dyakugha, who visited the Fishrot accused in November last year, said.

The discovery of the devices, he wrote in a letter to the correctional service, has led to prison authorities applying "a group punishment" to even others who did not have anything to do with the devices, “which is arbitrary, irrational and unfair”.

Sensitive nature

“The complainants also consider that the safety of all the Fishrot accused persons is of serious concern, because of the sensitive nature of the case, which is both politically and economically [sensitive], and [sensitive] from the judicial point of view.”

“Therefore, mixing them with the general trial-awaiting detainees will expose them to danger to their personal security, and confidentiality of their case will be compromised,” Dyakugha wrote.

He said it is public knowledge that many community members regard the Fishrot accused as the primary cause of the job losses, misery and death many families in the fishing industry suffered, hence the need to protect them while incarcerated.

“Furthermore, they have volumes of records that are kept in their respective single cells, which contain privileged information for their trial and, as such, the safeguarding thereof is imperative to ensure that no one should read it or remove any single paper so that they may have a fair trial,” the ombudsman argued.

We make the rules

Speaking to Namibian Sun yesterday, Hamunyela said how correctional facilities are run – including the allocation of cells and sections – is a sole province of the correctional service.

“If you send inmates to our facility, whether they are convicted or awaiting trial, our rules will apply. Police and others cannot now come and dictate who must be placed where,” he said.

“According to our rules, extra security must be accorded to inmates who served in the police, army, prison service or Cabinet. That’s why two of the Fishrot accused [Shanghala and Esau] will remain where they are,” he said.

“We don’t look at how much money you have, or where you lived before being arrested. Whether you lived in Ludwigsdorf or Wanaheda doesn’t matter to us. We don’t have Ludwigsdorf or Katutura in the correctional facilities. When you’re here, you are equal to everyone else. If you don’t want to live with poor people, that’s on you.”