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Opinion – Vetting, screening essential good governance tools

Opinion – Vetting, screening essential good governance tools

People are vetted or screened to ensure safety in the workplace, to protect its vulnerable employees, safeguard reputations by verifying credentials, detecting potential risks, and help to protect the institution’s reputation. This is to ensure that people working for or on behalf of the institution can be trusted to protect the citizenry, the clientele or a workforce, and their interest, property, information and/or critical missions. Notably, even in intelligence-gathering, assets are also vetted or screened to determine their usefulness. All these refer to methodical survey to assess suitability of individuals for a particular role or purpose. 

It is often a common misconception that the more senior a position, the more checks are required, as they are perceived as holding positions of power and responsibility. However, junior staff often have less to lose and subsequently can have little or no loyalty to the institution. These employees are often the ones with the widest access to sensitive information, as they often have greater direct access to an institution or company’s information than those in senior or management positions. 

It is, therefore important that vetting and screening processes be introduced equally to all categories of individuals where trustworthiness and integrity is paramount, to determine their suitability for a particular role or position, as ethics and morality are essential for individuals and society at large. 

The issue of vetting and screening has become topical, owing to the recent appointment of certain Cabinet ministers by her Excellency, the President of the Republic of Namibia. Local newspapers are awash with stories that the Namibian president surreptitiously appointed certain ministers without first exercising due diligence. However, the presidency said, “it will not take action against the said ministers without binding evidence and/or once formal charges has been laid”. 

Vetting process 

This is a process of performing background checks on individuals before offering them employment, conferring an award, or doing fact-checking prior to making any decision. It is, therefore, a process by which individuals undergo investigation, evaluation and adjudication of whether they are suitable or not, eligible to occupy a sensitive position or access classified information, and/or eligible for a personal identity verification credential. 

It is also a thorough investigation or evaluation of an individual and or institution conducted before deciding about a potential partnership, employment, or other significant action, to assess their suitability or integrity, also through due diligence. In many countries, many positions require individuals to undergo reinvestigation and/or to be subjected to continuous vetting checks accordingly. Thus, in many credible institutions or companies, the recruitment and selection policies provide guidance on the recruitment of staff. 

This involves verifying the suitability of individuals for employment or access to sensitive information, often including identity or criminal record checks, etc. At the start of the screening process, the agency doing the vetting determines what type of investigation the position will require. This is called position designation. After the individual has been identified, the agency may screen the information provided, to determine if there are any issues that may be best addressed with the individual at this point in the process. 

After the screening is completed, the agency will determine if the individual needs an investigation. If an investigation is needed, the agency will request the individual to complete the investigative questionnaire. 

The type of questions the individual is required to answer are determined by the type of investigation required. An individual may also be contacted by an investigator for a personal interview during which they may be asked to review the answers provided on their investigative forms or to explain information developed by the investigation team.  

Eventually, the results are provided to the requesting agency to make an adjudication determination. The agency will notify the individual if a favourable determination is made. 

Failure to do screening could expose any institution or authority to many risks including, employee fraud, poor performance, legal and financial risks, operational risk, theft of institution or customer information, high staff turnover levels, unnecessary costs associated with negligent hiring decisions, litigation, reputation damage, just to mention a few. 

Political ethics 

Individuals who are appointed by the President to political positions in the executive branch must be vetted by the State House or agency ethics committee. This process can be extremely arduous. This is particularly so for high-net-worth individuals and others who have complicated business dealings or financial holdings. 

In case of political candidates and nominees, these individuals are often vetted or screened by their sponsoring political parties or authorities accordingly. Political candidate vetting or screening is one of the strategies used in what is now commonly known as Technocratic Approach. This approach is relatively very new to politics and consisting of outsourcing the candidate or nominee selection process to an independent, sometimes professional structure to adopt recruitment tactics like those found in the private sector. 

It involves the identification and risk assessment of candidates and nominees who are to be or have been entrusted with prominent public function and may have an increased risk of being vulnerable to financial crime. The selection method has the merit of introducing a meritocratic approach to politics, but it is also less democratic and runs the risk of de-politicizing a process that is highly political by nature. 

This typical preventative measure subjects candidates or nominees to background scrutiny and to reject those deemed likely to spark negative publicity or controversies or who may be perceived to cause reputational damage to a political party or governance system. 

Essentially, to avoid that state of awkwardness, central party officers’ role in the nomination of candidates for vetting or screening in the selection process is primarily to protect the party’s or institution’s brand and its prospects. Thus, the implications of screening nominees or candidates range from rooting out politically harmful individuals to fortifying leader’s authority. This is designed to “ensure transparency”, to guarantee that information is open, honest, and readily available, allowing for accountability and informed decision making, aimed at identifying and selecting the most qualified, competent and suitable nominee or candidate with attributes to succeed in their role.

In summary, standard individual vetting and screening of candidates who are aspiring for political office is a fundamental role of any institution or authority, to protect its integrity and keep society safe from unprincipled elements and corruption. 

This is particularly true for authorities and institutions working in sectors that deal with issues of governance and sensitive data protection. Importantly, maintaining a strong brand identity and integrity of executive branch and staff members regardless of levels of their responsibilities can be rewarding and key to any authority ensuring success. All factors taken into consideration, vetting and screening are indispensable to good governance and management. Let Namibia do the right thing. 

*Maj. Gen. (rtd) J. B Tjivikua is a criminal intelligence analyst.