Asset declaration law pending for senior public officials – MISA calls for more stakeholder consultation before the law goes further

A draft law forcing officials who hold public office to declare their interests, as well as those of their relatives, will be presented to the Minister of Justice Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana in 18 months’ time.

The draft will cover asset declaration and include Access to Information and Conflict of Interest, according to Tousy Namiseb, chief of law reform at the Law Reform and Development Commission (LRDC).

Namiseb said they already had discussions with the Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Paulus Noa.

He said the LRDC was still in the first phase of consultation, and that this was being done with Chief Justice, Petrus Shivute, Judge President, Petrus Damaseb as well as a number of administrative bodies.

Namiseb said that conflict of interest, asset declaration and access to information legislation would aid the ACC in designing anti-corruption strategies, thus making it more effective.

Henry Line, principal legal officer for law reform at the LRDC, said that the declaration of assets requires individuals to open their books and account for their property. Conflict of interest, on the other hand, requires that individuals publicly declare all business interests, as well as those of close family members.

At present, only Members of Parliament are required to declare their assets.

The process is haphazard and irregular since this is only part of the standing rules of Parliament, and not enforceable by law.

A register of Parliamentarians’ interests has been published only twice since Independence, in 2003 and 2009.

Line said that the LRDC is currently looking at a number of models for asset declaration from other countries, including Uganda and Kenya.

Conflict of interest and asset declaration legislation will not apply to all members of the public service, but will be limited to senior officials who exercise public power, and make decisions of a public nature, especially those relating to the use and allocation of state resources.

When asked whether any of these pieces of legislation would empower the ACC to conduct lifestyle audits, Line said that the term ‘lifestyle audit’ was an imprecise term in law. As a result, the focus would be on asset declaration.

With regard to conflict of interest, Line said that there are a number of laws relating to this in Namibia, but that these are not satisfactory, adding that any legislation on asset declaration needed to be clear on conflict of interest.

When asked whether the new legislation would provide access to the reports of  Presidential commissions’ of enquiry, Line said one should not see the two issues together, as the legislation would aim to address current loopholes, and not provide access to reports.

MISA-position

MISA is happy to observe the enactment of a law that carries Access to Information aspect in Namibia, especially given the fact that MISA has being advocating for the law on Access to Information for a long time now and this process is long overdue.

However, it is imperative to state that since the law is going to present very important ingredients that promotes Access to Information and transparence from those assigned with public mandate, we call for a more transparent deliberation and consultation from all stakeholders and the public in order to increase inputs. We also emphasize the fact that if any such a law was to be carried out, its ingredients should not attempt to respect other entities of state in expense of the other.

We all know that public obligations begins with the president of the state and filters down to a man sweeping the street. If any person falling within that line has information due to the public, the law should be able to oblige such to unpack it to the public sphere to allow transparence in the process of carrying out public duties. Therefore, reports on the “Presidential Commission of enquiry” should not escape beyond such a law, unless otherwise it will have loopholes within its mandatory framework.

It should also be noted that the fact that there is no law to give provisions for such reports to be made public, is a loophole in its self. MISA therefore calls for debate and public consultation on such a draft law even before it is submitted for deliberation in the Parliament to avoid certain unfavorable clause of the draft law from being carried out without the interest of the public. We have seen that happening with other laws such as the “Communications Act of 2009” which was previously passed by parliament without proper examination of how some clauses in such a law would be implemented without compromising constitutional rights of citizens. //End//
 
Reagan Malumo
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626
Official Email: reagan(@)misa.org
Private Email: reagan32002(@)yahoo.com

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