In a statement after the last Cabinet meeting of 2019, President Hage Geingob said he hopes Namibians will learn from the lessons of 2019 and work on tangible solutions to guarantee sustained economic growth and job creation in Namibia. He reiterated that this year was the year of accountability and people of Namibia were accounted to. President Geingob said the Cabinet was able to meet its main objectives and keep the nation on a steady trajectory towards its developmental objectives. He commended his Cabinet for having worked tirelessly to preserve democracy, unity, peace, stability and the rule of law and ensuring continued social stability. He also highlighted on the extensive and gruelling programme of town hall meetings to account to the people on what the government has done and plans to do to better their living standards. President Geingob said during the town hall meetings earlier this year the issue of corruption was only raised twice and he, therefore, believes that “corruption is not systemic in Namibia, but perceptions have been created that Namibia is a corrupt society”. He, however, said the actions of a few corrupt officials have tainted the name of the country and called on public service officials to emphasise that corruption in any form is unacceptable. Geingob said he is aware of the corruption storm in the fishing sector. The president says people who have had their livelihoods destroyed as a result of corrupt practices are angry and this has been a wakeup call for Cabinet to re-double their efforts to promote greater accountability and transparency across all sectors of Government. Adding that those involved in the fishing sector corruption are no longer ministers and their offices are now open so that proper investigations can take place. “As a law-abiding society, we believe in processes, systems and institutions and for this reason, we will allow those implicated to be tried under due process of the law,” he said. He also called on Cabinet to work on a law which will clearly define election donations and campaign contributions to political parties in order to eliminate grey areas.