National Assembly (NA) Speaker Peter Katjavivi has appealed to the government to increase the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigations division yearly funding, saying N.dollars 3.4 million earmarked towards investigations is insufficient.
Motivating the ACC’s 2023/24 financial year budget allocation of N.dollars 81 688 000 in the NA on Friday, Katjavivi said the main investigations division is allocated N.dollars 29 774 000 million of which only 11 per cent is geared towards carrying out investigations.
He said out of the N.dollars 29 774 000, 87 per cent which is N.dollars 25 874 000 is estimated for remuneration and related expenditures, while only 11 per cent which is N.dollars 3 400 000 goes towards investigations.
“This main division is one the crucial components of the Commission and we all know how expensive and cumbersome the process of investigations can be. I, therefore, appeal that we look at how best we can fund ACC in order for it to allocate more resources to this main division,” he said.
Katjavivi said the 11 per cent also caters for annual fees and consultancy service investigations where specialised expertise and skills are required, noting that apart from the investigations in the fishing sector commonly referred to as ‘fish rot’ there are eight other ongoing high-profile cases that are being investigated and require specialised experts.
He indicated that priority is given to the high-profile cases for further investigations during the 2023/24 FY, stressing that it is crucial that the high-profile cases are prioritised as they have the potential to undermine the country’s commercial and financial interest which can cause huge potential financial loss to the country.
Katjavivi further said that the office of the Director General received an amount of N.dollars 4 207 000, while the administration division received N.dollars 29 790 000; and the Public Education and Corruption Prevention received an amount of N.dollars 15 036 000. The Security and Risk Management division received an amount of N.dollars 2 881 000.
“The impact of corruption is severe if it is allowed to persist. It impacts negatively economic growth, healthcare, and social and economic infrastructure development. Foreign Investors may not invest in Namibia if ACC is not financially empowered to curb corruption and related crimes,” he noted.
Source: Namibia News Agency
