Police are most corrupt – survey

MOST people believe that the police are more corrupt than politicians, a survey launched on Friday in Windhoek claims.

The 2016 National Corrupt Perception Survey done by the Harold Pupkewitz Graduate School of Business at the National University of Science and Technology assessed public perceptions about corruption. The survey was presented on Friday by Grafton Whyte, who is the graduate school's director, during the commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day in Windhoek. Whyte said about 62% of the respondents said they still report corruption to the police, despite perceiving them as the most corrupt, while 33% said they report the cases to the Anti-Corruption Commission. According to the survey, most Namibians believe that the safety ministry was the most corrupt, followed by the health ministry and then the finance ministry, including the tender board and the Inland Revenue department. The sports ministry is viewed as the least corrupt. “Which begs the question on whether the public feels obligated to report corruption to the police,” said Whyte, who also explained that the public perception of police as the most corrupt could be because of their direct engagements with people. Whyte said only 7% of respondents reported corruption in the last five years, while the rest said they do not know where to report, and 59% said they have experienced one or more instances of corruption in the past six months. “Overall, urban respondents indicated a higher exposure to corruption than rural respondents,” he said. ACC director general Paulus Noa said 59 555 cases have been reported to them since its establishment in 2006. “After investigations, many of these cases could not be submitted to the prosecutor general for prosecution because no evidence was found to substantiate the allegations,” he explained. Noa said some of the cases are referred to administrative authorities, with recommendations for action. “During the past years, 1 321 cases were referred to various authorities with recommendations, while 509 cases were submitted to the prosecutor general with recommendations for prosecution,” he stated. The commission has been criticised for only targeting junior officials in the government sector, while ignoring cases involving prominent figures. Noa was also accused of blocking the arrest of an army general Thomas Hamunyela, who was accused of corruption. Earlier this year, the director general said 'small' cases are easier to conclude than high-profile ones, which need evidence and are often difficult to prove. “The commission does not and will never favour any suspect, provided there is reasonable ground to investigate the suspect and members of the public stand ready to provide evidence,” he said on Friday. According to Noa, since the ACC was established, the country has had a positive ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI). The CPI measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Namibia was ranked 55th out of 163 countries with a score of 45. In 2008, Namibia ranked number 61 out of 180 countries with a score of 45. Noa added that the CPI rates countries based on whether they have anti-corruption measures in their policies, and anti-corruption awareness campaigns by all sectors, amongst others.