WINDHOEK – The Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Paulus Noa says a robust civil society, community and media that can expose and assist with the investigation of cases of corruption are needed in the country.
Noa yesterday responded to questions by New Era on the latest corruption ratings by Transparency International, an anti-corruption global movement which rated Namibia as 55th in the world with a score of 49 for corruption in the public sector.
The report indicates that no single country gets a perfect score and more than two-thirds score below 50, on a scale from 0 – highly corrupt to 100 – very clean.
Last year and in 2012, Namibia had a score of 48, which means the country moved one place up. This also means that Namibia has slightly improved in fighting corruption.
The ratings by Transparency International are based on expert opinion from around the world. The results are released in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index.
It measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide. The report also paints an alarming picture on corruption in different countries in the world.
“We must all together as Namibians make our contribution to the fight against corruption if we want to improve the growth of our economy. By so doing we shall improve Namibia’s ranking year by year,” said Noa.
Noa added that the ranking of Namibia has improved, indicating that Transparency International is recognising Namibia’s commitment to fighting corruption and promoting good governance.
“Efforts have been made at government level as well by law enforcement agencies to fight corruption in Namibia. Though there have been many reports in the media about corruption, such reports do not all reflect the factual state of corruption in Namibia,” said Noa. He added that there is corruption in Namibia like there is corruption elsewhere, globally.
“However, the level of corruption is not as portrayed in the media at times. Institutions including the ACC have been and are still hard at work to deal with reported allegations of corruption,” Noa remarked.
By Alvine Kapitako