A fishy donation puts Namibia’s Hage Geingob on the spot
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New allegations about corruption and patronage in ruling party Swapo will have left most Namibians feeling they’re not getting value for money from the country’s generous public funding of political parties.
"The regulation of party-political finance is a mess," says Graham Hopwood, director of the Institute for Public Policy Research in Windhoek. "Namibia needs a new, rigorous system to regulate donations to political parties, which should require all donations over a certain amount, for instance [R5000], to be listed and declared publicly."
Last week The Namibian newspaper reported that the running expenses for President Hage Geingob’s 2017 campaign for party president were allegedly financed by funds skimmed from state-owned fishing company Fishcor. The report was based on bank records posted online by whistleblower Jóhannes Stefánsson, the former director of Icelandic fishing company Samherji. The company, with Fishcor, is at the centre of the "Fishrot" scandal — an alleged bribes for fishing rights scam.
Under the line item "government objectives", Fishcor allegedly transferred the money — about R12.5m, which paid for everything from salaries and T-shirts to transport — to Celax Investments Number One, a company owned by lawyer Marén de Klerk, which then transferred the funds to Swapo.
The funds were presented to Swapo as a donation from the white business community, says party spokesperson Hilma Nicanor.
Cryptic entries of expenses in Celax’s bank records from 2014 to 2017 refer to "The Project", raising concerns about a political slush fund — particularly in light of a report in The Namibian that suggests Fishcor may have paid R17.2m to Swapo organiser Armas Amukwiyu and other close mutual associates of Geingob and cabinet secretary George Simataa via the trust of Geingob’s personal lawyer, Sisa Namandje.
The payments from Celax’s and Namandje’s accounts were allegedly distributed mainly among people closely associated with "team Harambee", as the group lobbying for Geingob’s second term was known.
De Klerk, who has been in hiding in SA since late last year, insisted to the Republikein newspaper that he has been made the scapegoat, and says he now fears for his life.
Following the arrest of former fisheries and justice ministers Bernhard Esau and Sacky Shanghala in November, Geingob made his only public statement on Fishrot. But it now seems he may have been economical with the truth when he claimed an inspection of Swapo’s books would prove it did not receive any money from Fishcor.
He did, ...
"The regulation of party-political finance is a mess," says Graham Hopwood, director of the Institute for Public Policy Research in Windhoek. "Namibia needs a new, rigorous system to regulate donations to political parties, which should require all donations over a certain amount, for instance [R5000], to be listed and declared publicly."
Last week The Namibian newspaper reported that the running expenses for President Hage Geingob’s 2017 campaign for party president were allegedly financed by funds skimmed from state-owned fishing company Fishcor. The report was based on bank records posted online by whistleblower Jóhannes Stefánsson, the former director of Icelandic fishing company Samherji. The company, with Fishcor, is at the centre of the "Fishrot" scandal — an alleged bribes for fishing rights scam.
Under the line item "government objectives", Fishcor allegedly transferred the money — about R12.5m, which paid for everything from salaries and T-shirts to transport — to Celax Investments Number One, a company owned by lawyer Marén de Klerk, which then transferred the funds to Swapo.
The funds were presented to Swapo as a donation from the white business community, says party spokesperson Hilma Nicanor.
Cryptic entries of expenses in Celax’s bank records from 2014 to 2017 refer to "The Project", raising concerns about a political slush fund — particularly in light of a report in The Namibian that suggests Fishcor may have paid R17.2m to Swapo organiser Armas Amukwiyu and other close mutual associates of Geingob and cabinet secretary George Simataa via the trust of Geingob’s personal lawyer, Sisa Namandje.
The payments from Celax’s and Namandje’s accounts were allegedly distributed mainly among people closely associated with "team Harambee", as the group lobbying for Geingob’s second term was known.
De Klerk, who has been in hiding in SA since late last year, insisted to the Republikein newspaper that he has been made the scapegoat, and says he now fears for his life.
Following the arrest of former fisheries and justice ministers Bernhard Esau and Sacky Shanghala in November, Geingob made his only public statement on Fishrot. But it now seems he may have been economical with the truth when he claimed an inspection of Swapo’s books would prove it did not receive any money from Fishcor.
He did, ...