Members of Parliament have raised concerns over the growing backlog of cases at the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The MPs called for increased funding, stressing that the commission plays a critical role in safeguarding public resources and ensuring accountability.

The concerns were raised during contributions to the budget vote of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Namibia, which has been allocated N$109 million.

Some MPs also questioned the continued use of rented office space, urging the government to prioritise the construction of a permanent headquarters for the Commission.

NDP's leader, Martin Lukato, says, "The prime case, which is now in the court, the Fishrot scandal, was not detected by the ACC or law enforcement agencies, but it was detected by the foreign institution while we were having the ACC."

IPC MP Michael Mulunga adds, "It is a house that needs to make proper decisions in the best interests of the people of Namibia, especially in critical entities such as the Anti-Corruption Commission. And it is our hope that at least the executive can give us at least three names or so so that this House can scrutinise those names and can conduct public interviews if need be so that we appoint a proper director general for the ACC."

Swapo Party MP Dr Tobie Aupindi says, "We are all concerned because we all want to combat corruption aggressively. But when you look at the ACC, the Act, number 8 of 2003, is really kind of outdated because it is literally outdated in terms of new corporate responsibility, new social responsibility, and new technology. And I believe that continuous access in combating corruption, the Act needs to be brought up to current to become relevant within the context of fast-moving industries."

"We need to relook into this N$109 million that is currently here apart from the ACC because within our governance infrastructure or architecture the ACC plays a very important role to ensure that each and every person in the country is not accountable and that money does not go out of this country except through proper means and channels. Now on that is that the ACC equally needs to move with modern times, and we want to use a voice here to please him to ensure that before he leaves he modernises the operations of the ACC because there is no way for us to be in 2026, but you are still on the analogue systems," adds AR MP George Kambalala.