Windhoek
Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa on Tuesday gave notice in the National Assembly that the house reappoint the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director-General Paulus Noa, as well as his deputy, Advocate Erna van der Merwe, to serve another five-year term of office.
She would then motivate why she thinks the duo deserve being reappointed. The National Assembly would discuss the reppointment of Noa and Van der Merwe. Her notice is in accordance with section 4 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act, No. 8 of 2003. The ACC is an agency of the executive branch of the government.
The anti-graft body was established under Section 2 of the Anti-Corruption Act, 8 of 2003 and inaugurated on February 1, 2006 by President Hifikepunye Pohamba. Upon its formation and inauguration, Noa was appointed as director and Van Der Merwe as deputy director, to date. The aim of the commission is to fight corruption.
The Anti-Corruption Act is Namibia’s primary anti-corruption law, covering passive bribery, active bribery, attempted corruption, extortion and bribing a foreign public official. Noa last year August said that Namibians of all
creeds and colours, no matter their status in society, would be investigated if they provoked the need for
such investigation. At the time he also revealed how they started the ACC from scratch in Windhoek.
“My deputy and I started putting pieces together because there was nothing at all. Today we are seated in this big building here (ACC headquarters). Our first task was to come up with staff structures. We knew there would be a need for a directorate that deals with investigations, a directorate on public education and corruption prevention and a division for support services such as human resources and finance. This was done before we then started with
the recruitment process, with a very limited budget,” he had said.
Today the ACC has a staff complement of over 60 people, including 22 investigating officers. Apart from the headquarters, it also has regional offices in Oshakati, Otjiwarongo and Swakopmund. The ACC came into being at a very sensitive time when Namibians were demanding action on matters such as the ODC’s missing N$100 million, SSC-Avid’s N$30 million loss and the GIPF money that also went missing, all of which remain to be recovered.