Pohamba's anti-graft campaign gets fresh impetus

Namibian president Hifikepunye Pohamba's anti-corruption campaign scored a significant victory this week with the resignation from parliament of a scandal-tainted former minister, analysts said. Paulus Kapia was forced to resign from his position as deputy minister of works, transport and communication in late August, after a high court liquidation inquiry into a US $5.7 million investment in his company, Avid Investment Corporation, went missing. Kapia, a protégé of former state president Sam Nujoma, had continued to defy SWAPO's politburo, the ruling party's highest decision-making body, which had asked him to quit parliament in September. Nujoma, as party president, announced Kapia's resignation from parliament this week. A motion on corruption had to be postponed last week, after opposition parliamentarians called on the ruling party to put its house in order before discussing graft, and pointed to the presence of Kapia in the house, passively listening in his backbench seat. The motion was tabled by the leader of the opposition Congress of Democrats party, Ben Ulenga. According to Phil ya Nangoloh of the Namibian Society for Human Rights, Kapia's defiance had threatened to split the party between Nujoma and Pohamba. "While Nujoma is an extremely powerful man within SWAPO, he does not enjoy the same support within the politburo and was apparently forced to announce Kapia's resignation," he told IRIN. Pohamba had been groomed for the top job by Nujoma, who retired this year after 25 years as president of Namibia. In his inauguration speech in March, Pohamba said the government would address graft "with a sledgehammer", which won him the respect of Namibian human rights groups. Minister of presidential affairs Albert Kawana dismissed as "total nonsense" suggestions that Pohamba and Nujoma were on different wavelengths over combating graft. SWAPO's general secretary, Ngarikutuke Tjiriange, said the party's leaders were not like "cows, doing things the same way". "There is always a difference of opinion, but all of us are working well together", he maintained. Norman Tjombe, chairman of the Namibian NGO Forum, was also dismissive of a perceived rift between Nujoma and Pohamba on tackling corruption, but added that "Pohamba has merely been talking about corruption and has not done anything yet". Tjombe called for legislation that would take action against parliamentarians with business interests. The bulk of the missing investment linked to Kapia - $4.6 million - belonged to the Social Security Commission (SSC), a state welfare agency. The remaining $1.08 million had been sourced from the ruling party's business arm, Kalahari Holdings. Kapia allegedly used his position as secretary of the SWAPO Youth League to secure the investments from the SSC and Kalahari Holdings. SWAPO MP Kazenambo Kazenambo called for anti-corruption to be included as a subject in the country's education syllabus, saying, "It is a dangerous disease and vice, which undermines sustainable development. Therefore it should be collectively fought against by all members of society."