Stefanus Nashama
The Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader, Job Amupanda, yesterday threatened to reveal more information on the corruption allegations of the Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, Itah Kandjii-Murangi, after she claimed innocence on social media.
Amupanda claimed that there was a ‘Sunday Meeting’ between Kandjii-Murangi and what he termed the higher education cabal to get its stooges at the University of Namibia (Unam) to get rid of him. Amupanda is employed as a Senior Lecturer for Political Science at Unam.
He also claimed that higher education is not run by laws and governance structures but by a secret cabal of politicians who associate with the Minister.
However, Amupanda said fights to get rid of him from Unam will never succeed, adding that anyone at Unam being used by politicians to do so, will face an uphill battle.
He cited a proverb from West Africa which states: “A child can play with the breast of the mother but never the testicles of the father.”
“It will not be the first time that politicians try to interfere in employer-employee relations. It has been ongoing since 2016. It is thus no surprise and it is something I expect. They will fail and I will deal with them,” he said.
Amupanda said sources informed him of the ‘Sunday Meeting’ aimed at taking major decisions about him on the allegations he made against the Minister and that the allegations were confirmed by his sources yesterday.
However, he could not provide more details on the meeting due to the confidentiality of his sources who revealed the meeting decisions to him.
“In fighting corruption, protecting the sources is an important principle. Please understand when I don’t go into details as the corrupt may start putting threads together,” he stated.
Amupanda further claimed that the ‘Sunday Meeting’ decided to get people to defend the Minister’s corrupt allegations in the media, and to get a lawyer involved to make the situation look like they are taking action on the allegations.
“The problem with corrupt people who have gotten away with corruption for a long time is that they always think we are bluffing,” he said.
The Former Mayor of the City of Windhoek said he has nothing personal against the Minister, but corruption and abuse of public resources while the masses go hungry are matters of serious concern to him.
“I dedicate my energy and resources to fighting corruption,” he stated.
Amupanda’s reaction comes after Minister Kandjii-Murangi hit back at repeated corruption accusations on social media.
Kandji-Murangi hit back at Amupanda, saying she is not corrupt and that she did not pocket money illegally from any institution. She indicated that her legal team is looking into the allegations.
In response, Amupanda said he will start releasing information on the “corrupt Kandjii-Murangi” since she claims to be innocent.
“I don’t understand why springboks always like to dance in front of the Lion. Given these provocative dance moves, I will start releasing Information on the corrupt Minister,” he remarked.
On Sunday, through her Legal Representative, Clive Kavendjii, Kandjii-Murangi demanded that Amupanda immediately cease from making further allegations and defamatory statements about her whether orally, in writing, or through any other means of communication.
The Minister also demanded an unconditional and public apology and retraction from Amupanda before today , and that failure to do so will lead to her filing an urgent legal action against him in the High Court.
The Minister said the retraction and apology should be made in a manner commensurate with the reach and impact of the original defamatory statement Amupanda made.
Amupanda yesterday responded to the Minister saying she is no exception and that he will fight the Minister’s alleged corruption until his last bullet is spent.
“Corruption has done more harm to our country than all social ills combined,” he said.
The activist said all corruption allegations against the Minister are proven by evidence he said he would reveal step by step.
Accusations
Amupanda has repeatedly accused Kandjii-Murangi of looting the coffers of the University of Science and Technology (Nust) of more than N$140 000, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) of approximately N$400 000, and N$300 000 from the Namibia Training Authority (NTA) to fund her trips to several international meetings related to the higher education.
He also claimed the Minister is requesting additional funds even if her trips are fully funded by organizers, and that she ignores the Court order that compelled her to pay N$4 million she reportedly owes the Development Bank of Namibia.
Nust yesterday confirmed that it paid N$140 600 in travel expenses to Minister Kandjii-Murangi on 3 February.
John Haufiku, who is the Spokesperson at Nust said the university paid for the Minister’s official visit to Korea.
Amupanda yesterday posted a scanned proof of payment with the amount of N$140 634.20 paid by Nust to the Minister’s Standard Bank account.
The activist says he will not leave a stone unturned.
Amupanda, who was just warned by the Minister on Sunday to cease with making allegations, yesterday made another headline, saying the monies were not only paid for an official trip but also for a church event for which all expenses were already paid.
He demands that Nust produces the minutes of the meeting where the decision of paying such a huge amount of money to the Minister was taken.
“I know for a fact that only one or two people organized this money into the personal account of the boss of their Cosa Nostra,” Amupanda said.
He further revealed that the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation paid Kandjii-Murangi an advance of N$75 289.72 and N$120 948.82 after she returned from a trip to New York.
