Elizabeth Hiyolwa 

NKURENKURU - Kavango West  governor Sirkka Ausiku has stressed the importance of valuable contributions for inclusion into the final draft of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan.

Ausiku, who was speaking during a consultative meeting at Nkurenkuru last week, called for an inclusive steering committee which will monitor the implementation of the action plan.

 “The objective is to ensure that we all own the strategy, and that the actions that will be identified for implementation by various institutions are fully implemented,” she stated.

 At the same meeting, Anti-Corruption
Commission (ACC) acting director general Paulus Noa called on the regional stakeholders to embrace the opportunity to make inputs that will help develop a solid strategy. He said the ACC cannot successfully develop a well-informed national anti-corruption policy without first consulting key stakeholders in the regions. 

He further explained that the strategy is not
meant to reinvent the wheel, but rather to complement the already existing policies and programmes through effective implementation. “Your inputs will ensure the better management of public property, better systems of the allocation of public resources to benefit needy people, initiatives of development programmes, empowerment of the disadvantaged, and overall transparency in the allocation and spending of public resources,” Noa continued. 

He highlighted that stakeholders play a key role in increasing improvements on transparency and accountability through their inputs. During her welcoming remarks at the meeting, deputy mayor of Nkurenkuru Fani Kaundu indicated that the inputs made by the regional representatives towards the national strategy would show their collective will to eradicate corruption. She described corruption as an obstacle which hinders democracy and sustainable development.  “Corruption clandestinely erodes the sound foundation of a country. It derails decision and policymaking, thereby impeding sound social and economic development,” Kaundu stressed.