Make audited financial reports public

DISGRUNTLED VOTER WRITES:

I’m convinced and supposed that the newspaper article of 14 May 2024 in Republikein has triggered the official visit of the Hon. Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon. Derek Klassen, to the Okwanyama’s Queen’s Palace.

He must visit the south as well, as we need to engage him as well after the national drought has been declared a state of emergency by H.E. President Nangolo Mbumba on 27 May 2024.

That article was about the withdrawal of the fishing rights of Hompa, who are reportedly the major shareholders in the much-sought-after horse mackerel fish product of Namibia.

The Minister was correct and honest that the management of Hompa apparently furnished him with a thick report recently, which we need to scrutinize as well.

In my view, such a report was long overdue, and we expect the same sort of audited financial reports from the respective traditional authorities as the sole targeted beneficiaries of the program and the project.

I concur wholeheartedly with the statement that what is “good for the goose should be good for the gander” as well.

In essence, if the Hon. Minister undertakes to sustain and maintain that traditional Palace of the Queen, then he must do the same for all the others in the country, as Professor Diescho maintained in The Namibian of 28 May 2024.

I know for a fact that the respective Traditional Authorities are struggling to host their annual traditional festivals since they don’t have any budgetary provisions for that.

I don’t know why the Minister of Urban and Rural Development is tight-lipped on this score since traditional authorities resort directly under his ministry?

He is the one who must ensure the full adherence and application of Section 5 the Traditional of Authorities Act No. 2005, which once again deals with the Community Trust Funds and annual audited financial statements, etc. In some cases, the poor communities don’t even hear how money was received from where, how that money was spent, and who the Board of Trustees is. The Minister should compel them to make these audited financial reports public and/or to at least report directly to him.

This squandering, embezzlement, and lotting can’t be allowed to continue unabatedly and without impunity. It is far-fetched, and the necessary stringent corrective measures should be implemented henceforth because all these things encroach on mismanagement, self-enrichment, etc.

The respective traditional authorities must be given a timeframe to either release these annual audited financial reports or the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) must come in with forensic investigations.

Let these things not result in unwarranted voter apathy and a loss of trust and confidence in our constitutional democracy.

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