Time for Swapo to answer

Now more than ever, the ruling party Swapo has no excuse to maintain the deafening silence on allegations it has benefitted from the multi-million-dollar Fishrot bribery scandal.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday testified that its investigations found that part of the Fishrot money was used for Swapo campaigns.

ACC classified this transaction as “suspicious”, the court heard yesterday.

For far too long, Swapo has been hiding behind lame technicalities not to comment on these allegations. In fact, the party accused the media of driving a wedge against it and its leaders.

Yet from day one, the media based and attributed these allegations to official records. Now there is a great deal of vindication when ACC itself goes to court and places this damning allegation on record.

Swapo spokesperson Hilma Nicanor dared anyone who links the party to Fishrot to approach ACC. Now ACC itself testifies in court that Fishrot funded party campaigns.

Again, we reiterate our earlier reminder that these are public resources for which the nation needs answers.

President Hage Geingob christened 2020 as a “year of accountability”, but this would remain mere hot wind if the organisation he leads tells everyone to go to hell insofar as Fishrot is concerned.

If Swapo is really worth its weight in gold, as it purports to be, it must summon its courage and publicly pronounce itself on this matter – not with more denials, but with how this matter is being handled internally.