THE man who exposed the Fishrot scandal, Jóhannes Stefánsson, says he is planning to come back to Namibia to testify in the forthcoming court proceedings to ensure those accused in one of the country's worst corruption scandals face the music.
Speaking to Desert Radio on Thursday, on the third anniversary of the scandal, Stefánsson said he is willing to pay for his own security to return to Namibia to testify in court.
"I am fully aware of all the risks and people involved and what to be careful about, so I will have my own protection and we will make good planning and strategies. I will be coming and we will finish this," Stefánsson said.
He said concerns for his safety have been high for over six years, and have become a way of life since the exposé.
"When I made the revelation in Namibia in August 2018, there had been several attempts to kill me. I was fully aware of what I was entering into and I knew that risk would only increase. This is unfortunately a part of coming forward in a major corruption scandal and we just have to deal with that, because keep in mind this is part of an organised crime syndicate," he said.
Three years since the Fishrot scandal, policymakers have been reluctant about reforming the fishing sector and closing loopholes that enable corruption, pundits say.
Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) director Graham Hopwood said almost nothing has been done on the part of the government to reduce the risk of corruption in the fishing sector.
Hopwood said such risks include the current Marine Resources Act of 2015, which allows the fisheries minister to act with inappropriate discretionary power.
He said the systems for allocating rights and quotas are still mired in secrecy.
"The whole industry and the way the government runs it, is mired in secrecy and nothing is ever announced. We need a massive shift in the attitudes and mindset, but also in the policies, to be able to monitor what's happening in fisheries," Hopwood said.
One of the reasons for the delay in fisheries reform is the fact that many members of parliament have business interests in the fisheries sector, Hopwood said.
"I don't think there is a great push for reform from within the government and there is a lack of political will, really."
He said when Albert Kawana took over as minister of fisheries, after the Fishrot revelations, he made a number of statements that inaccuracies in the Marine Resources Act would be addressed, however, nothing has been done in that regard.
"Obviously, this is a familiar story since implementation and action seem to take quite a while in Namibia. But in this particular case, I think it's rooted in the fact that there is a lot of (politically) vested interest in the fishing industry, who are benefiting from the current loopholes. There may be more corruption scandals going on, it is so secretive," Hopwood said.
Veteran journalist Jemima Beukes, also speaking on Desert Radio during the conversation, said uncovering corruption in Namibia is still a challenge for the country's journalists, as Namibia lacks a whistle-blowing culture.
"Yes, people will say all sorts of things to you and they will even promise you documents but they will never come to share it with you because we are such a small, close-knit society and people are afraid of being prosecuted," Beukes said.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued over the weekend, the IPPR and Transparency International Iceland called for restorative justice for the victims of Firshrot.
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"Fishrot is the largest corruption scandal in both Namibian and Icelandic history. The value of transactions flagged as suspicious by Namibia's Financial Intelligence Centre in connection with the Fishrot scheme is reported to be around US$650 million. This has had a devastating impact on Namibia's fishing industry, local fishing communities and the broader economy. Thousands of local fishermen are thought to have lost their jobs. The impact will undoubtedly be felt for generations," the statement read.
The two organisations said more must be done. They called for Icelandic fishing corporation Samherji to submit to a process of reparation and remediation, an assessment of the human rights and economic impact of Samherji's Namibian activities, full reparation to affected communities and an operational grievance mechanism to address specific issues of local communities and individuals, among others.
