Explosive book about Fishrot scandal launched
For more than three years, two former cabinet ministers have been in custody on suspicion of corruption, awaiting the start of the Fishrot trial later this year. The Free Press of Namibia publishing house, which owns the daily newspaper The Namibian, has a book about what is probably the biggest Namibian corruption scandal released.“The former economics lecturer at the University of Namibia (Unam), Professor Roman Grynberg, came to us and said he wanted to write a book about it, if we had the courage to publish it. We said yes,” said The Namibian editor-in-chief Tangeni Amupadhi at the book launch yesterday morning.
"For about ten years we have been reporting on machinations in the fisheries sector, which have increasingly developed into a tangible corruption scandal," said Amupadhi.
In the meantime, the Al Jazeera has also researched the case, but then did not want to publish anything so shortly before the elections in 2019 so that it could not be said that the reports had influenced the elections at the end of 2019," said the editor-in-chief.
The fact that the now former Minister of Fisheries (Bernhard Esau) resigned before the elections after an article in The Namibian exposed the scandal was more of a coincidence, said Amupadhi.
"Wikileaks contacted us after Al Jazeera withdrew and asked if our newspaper would be willing to take the matter further, and would also provide us with documents." The article appeared and the same morning the fisheries minister resigned.
The book was written by Professor Roman Grynberg with Amupadhi and the daily's investigative journalist Shinovene Immanuel. The explosive text was checked by a law firm before it went to press, as the publishing house does not want to risk any court cases after publication.
Grynberg made it clear that corruption can be ended if the will is there. "Around N$14 billion has disappeared through Fishrot, with the money one could have demolished shacks in Katutura and built new homes," Grynberg said. “But the Namibians (in power) don't want to, they don't care. Corruption will only stop when people stand up and demand change," he said.
Therefore, the book is dedicated to Namibian children, who should have a better future, and to Icelandic whistleblower Johannes Stefansson, who risked his life to expose the scandal.
The printing of the book was supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). The head of KAS in Namibia, Natalie Russmann, said the book could serve as a guide on how to improve weak government bodies and fight corruption successfully in order to regain trust in government systems.