SWAPO vice-president and minister of international relations and cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has expressed her utter disappointment in senior officials of the Oshana Regional Council after alleged corrupt activities were unearthed by the party’s leadership in the region.
Nandi-Ndatiwah said “serious corruption” was discovered within the regional council after some officials tried to sabotage and pocket funds meant for the construction of about five earth dams earlier this year.
She said many people in the rural areas are currently faced with dire water shortages and the construction of the earth dams in the region meant to minimise the effects of flooding and to harvest rainwater for later use.
She said people who are anti-development, however, undermined the process.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said this during Swapo’s final Oshana star rally at Oshakati on Saturday.
“Serious corruption was found, and I cannot allow that process to continue. Out of the 11 earth dams that were to be constructed in Oshana region, about four earth dams had to be stopped, because serious corruption was found, and the rest are currently being constructed.
“Unfortunately, that involved the construction of an earth dam that I promised at Okaku village.
“I gave money from my own pocket for the construction of an earth dam at Okaku, but the construction had to be halted due to serious corruption. They wanted to construct those earth dams through corrupt means and benefit for their own means.
“Corruption is rife in this country, and I want to thank the leadership of Oshana for unearthing such corrupt activities . . .
“I want to instruct the governor of the Oshana region to approach lawyers immediately and make sure those earth dams are constructed before the next rainy season,” she said.
According to sources who preferred to remain anonymous, officials responsible for the tendering process at the Oshana Regional Council allegedly awarded the earth dam tenders to their close connections and relatives who lack construction knowledge and machinery.
Some of these companies have been in operation for less than two months, the sources said.
The regional council was awarded an amount of N$15 million by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform to construct earth dams in various constituencies in the region to harvest floodwater.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said water is life and no one should play with people’s lives.
“As party members it is our responsibility to deliver quality services. You will be surprised if some of those people involved in the awarding of these earth dam tenders are Swapo members. Those are not true Swapo members.
“True Swapo members believe in solidarity, and you cannot cheat when you believe in solidarity. So, therefore, comrades, you should not destroy the people who entrusted us.
“We must fight corruption. If there was no corruption, today we were going to have earth dams in Oshana region, and all this is what is telling us that corruption is in this country, only that sometimes people are afraid to talk about it, but this one has come out,” she said.
The Namibian previously reported that Oshana chief regional officer Teopolina Hamutumwa said the budget of the earth dams includes the excavation, construction and rehabilitation of earth dams in the constituencies which are mostly affected by floods.
“The tender for about five earth dams was advertised earlier this year to begin with the process of construction and rehabilitation of the earth dams, however, we had to cancel it immediately when we noticed some technical irregularities.
“Everything was done, and we were just about to award the tender to the successful bidder, but we had to stop it due to technical problems within the procurement process.
“We have handed over the matter to the Anti-Corruption Commission to allow for further investigations,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah further urged party members to gear up for the presidential and National Assembly elections in 2024.
Leave a Reply