How can Namibia be a richly-endowed country, yet have poor people? The startling figures of poverty, malnutrition, ill-health and unemployment are largely attributed to corruption and mismanagement. Corruption and mismanagement rob society of precious national resources meant to benefit everyone, and uplift people out of poverty and advance development.
They are indeed vices that have deeply rooted themselves in many societies, and the Namibian society is unfortunately not an exception.
Corruption is evident in the hearts of rapacious and covetous individuals, characterised by an obsession with money and earthly possessions, and metastasises into a burning urge which destroys two sacred values of humanity: virtue and morality. Therefore, corruption is not an easy task to get rid of in a society that normalises vices such as the abuse of public resources for personal gain at the expense of greater society.
Corruption is likened to a dreaded virus which weakens or adversely affects our economy, law-enforcement initiatives, justice system and governance.
Hence, tackling corruption to ensure the future development of our country should be our government’s top priority, as well as that of civil society and youth organisations.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, during the first Cabinet meeting of her presidency at State House, said she will focus on present instances of corruption, rather than focusing on past wrongs or incidents. “I am not going to follow things that happened before I arrived, but I will follow those that have occurred since 21 March 2025. I am not going to witch-hunt anybody, but from now on, there should be no delay”.
Manifestation of corruption
Corruption encompasses a variety of different criminal acts with varying degrees of severity. While there exists no universal definition of corruption, the most applied definition considers it to be “the abuse of public or private office for personal gain” (Transparency International, 2021b, para 1).
This broad definition of corruption encompasses a variety of different acts, including but not limited to the misuse of public funds, the acceptance of bribes, bid fixing, embezzlement, collusion, extortion or influence peddling.
In addition, there are also some vivid indications of corruption, such as secrecy of public transactions, centralised power, decisions which repeatedly benefit a partner, conflicts of interest and dual roles, dubious invoices, very large payments, irregular entertainment expenses, and deficiencies or mistakes in financial reporting.
Awareness campaign
Corruption can be fought at different levels. There is an urgent need to raise citizens’ awareness and consciousness of the dangers of corruption, and its harmful effects on our society.
Awareness-raising campaigns must be organised in the media, schools and workplaces to educate citizens about the various aspects of corruption and its impact on society, its multiple forms, and the means to combat it.
Additionally, training and capacity-building programmes for key players such as politicians, government officials and anti-corruption teams can also have a significant impact on efforts to eradicate this scourge.
This training which seeks to change the mindsets must, however, cover anti-corruption laws and regulations, good governance practices, and ethical standards.
Accountability
Essentially, the lack of transparency in the day-to-day conduct of public and private affairs by public officials is one of the main causes of corruption in government.
Therefore, it is crucial that the government makes information on budgets, government contracts and resources’ allocations public to prevent malfeasance, fraud and corruption from taking root.
Also, an oversight system should be put in place in various sectors to help detect corruption early, and prevent it from spreading further.
Indeed, strengthening anti-corruption laws and regulations to track down corrupt practices in all sectors and punishing every act of corruption would serve as an effective deterrent to discourage corrupt actors and their cronies from continuing their evil practices of enriching themselves and denying citizens their only precious resources.
In curbing corruption through accountability, the government should establish transparent processes, empower citizens with information, implement robust legal frameworks and ensure the effective enforcement of laws and regulations, while also fostering a culture of ethical behaviour in public participation.
In summary, the urgency to combat this menace and to ensure a prosperous and fair future for all citizens, tools such as awareness campaigns, training and capacity-building, transparency and heavy penalties for corrupt practices should be used to combat corruption, and to reduce its negative societal impacts effectively.
As a result, the government should make a firm commitment to fight corruption by putting these mechanisms in place to help eradicate corruption in the short and long- term.
Unless we, as Namibians, change our behaviour from seeing corruption as the bad guy wasting our futures to being a generous, charitable, philanthropic and benevolent neighbour or a hardworking entrepreneur, our attempt to defeat corruption will remain an illusion.
*Maj. Gen. (RTD) J. B Tjivikua is a Criminal Intelligence Analyst.