Regional- and local authorities the key to success of national corruption action plan

The Anti-Corruption Commission of Namibia (ACC) shared details of its National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan (NACS & AP) for 2016-2019 with regional council and local authorities in Swakopmund last week.
NACS & AP is critical for Namibia as for the country to reach its national development agenda and Vision 2030 corruption needs to be eradicated. Namibia’s development goal is to create a prosperous, harmonious and industrialised state by the year 2030. An environment in which corruption cannot thrive. NACS & AP is key to root out corruption in the system and will be implemented through six strategic objectives, according to Mr. Tobias Amoonga, the ACC’s chief of public education and corruption prevention.
These objectives are: increase the level of political accountability; to prevent corruption in government offices, ministries, agencies and state-owned enterprises; to strengthen efforts to deter corruption; to conduct extensive anti-corruption education; to prevent corruption in the private sector and to engage civil society and the media in combating corruption.
According to Amoonga the ACC reached significant milestones in its ten years of existence. It is the leading institution to fight corruption in Namibia. The vision is a corruption-free Namibia.
The first objective of ACC with the development of the NACS & AP is to engage stakeholders to get inputs to formulate a strategy.
A critical ingredient in the implementation of NACS & AP is regional councils and local authorities. It is at this level that a culture of transparency and accountability is established.
Budget management is of utmost importance as it would ensure public funds are spent for its intended purpose and is not diverted to wasteful spending. Corruption leads to wasteful spending and slows down service delivery to the Namibian people.
Under Namibia’s policy of decentralisation it would be increasingly expected from both regional- and local authority councils to be accountable for the money and resources entrusted to them.
The Deputy Director of the ACC, Advocate Erna van der Merwe, also addressed stakeholders during the session last week and said the implementation of the NACS & AP will be the responsibility of the National Anti-Corruption steering committee comprising of 31 individuals who were appointed with specific tasks at hand.
At the closure of the session Erongo Regional Councillor Hafeni Ndemula thanked ACC for its initiative and drive and recognised the importance for regional- and local authorities to spearhead the action towards a corruption-free Namibia.