ONAYENA – Political parties represented on local authority councils across the country must recall their councillors who may be complicit in corrupt activities or underperforming.
Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Paulus Noa, speaking at Onayena in the Oshikoto Region on Friday, said political parties must see themselves as critical partners in the fight against corruption – often rife at local authority establishments.
Parties must put politics aside when dealing with their corrupt members on councils, as protecting them would only perpetuate this scourge.
Tenders and recruitment at local authorities are often mired in allegations of corruption and Noa believes the war against this social evil must involve all and sundry, including political bodied represented on such platforms.
Noa has for years been at war with political parties whom he often castigates for what he perceives as a lack of accountability on state funds they receive.
On Friday he said: “They (parties) campaign for their candidates during local authority elections but when their representatives are accused of corruption, parties do not act against such councillors.”
“When their councillors underperform, which also affect service delivery, parties do not act.”
“Parties must reign in their corrupt councillors and replace them with other members of their parties,” he said, to thunders of applause from those in attendance of an Africa Day of Decentralisation event at Onayena.