Namibia Airports Company: Another Air Namibia looming? (Part 1)

PLANE SPOTTER WRITES:The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) came into being in 1999 as a result of the Airports Company Act No. 25 of 1998.It was apparently immediately targeted as a source of easy income.It was revealed in The Namibian (07-09-2004) that as a consequence of a forensic audit, N$ 4 million could not be accounted for in 2001, and about a year later, fraud of N$3.5 million was discovered leading to the suicide by shooting of a management accountant.According to The Namibian (24-11-2004): “Unconfirmed reports claim the forensic investigation, now more than one year old, was damning of the CEO and the directors alike.”Then, in 2012, there was controversy resulting from the billing of the NAC for N$400 000 from Mr. Brian Nalisa, an outside “consultant”, for a 10 minutes telephone call to the Labour Commissioner (The Namibian 17-12-2012). Altogether Mr. Nalisa charged the NAC N$7.5 million for “consultancy work” relative to “restructuring” and consequent retrenchments in the company, something which was not required since the process is laid down in the Labour Act.The Minister of Transport at the time took no steps against the board or management (as far as I am aware) and Mr. Nalisa was also never brought to book but apparently moved to the USA.Quote from The Namibian of 17-12-2012: “The report recommended among other things that the entire board be sacked. Nghimtina, (The Minister of Transport) who has been sitting on the report since May, said the board would not be fired since they still had long-term projects. The report also contains damning allegations of mismanagement and fraud against the board.”There has also been the matter of the N$7 billion tender given to a Chinese company for a “new” international airport next to Hosea Kutako. Although this tender was later cancelled it was revealed that a law firm allegedly had stood to make N$105 million irregular “commission” from this transaction. (The Namibian 30-06-2020)We can also mention the suspected attempt to inflate the tender for upgrades to Ondangwa Airport, given to a Chinese contractor, by N$43 million possibly for some individuals' personal benefit.Deputy Chief Justice Petrus Damaseb, who wrote the appeal judgement, (in which confirmation of the cancellation of the contract was given) noted that the decision to award the contract was rushed through at the last meeting of the former NAC board before its term of office ended (The Namibian 08-05-2020).He also said, according to the Namibian: “that the manner in which the award was made without following the NAC's procurement policy did not meet ‘the most basic tenets of transparency and accountability and judicious use of public funds”.Yet, in 2019 Mr. Bisey /Uirab again defends not calling for tenders for aspects of a major contract, viz. the upgrading of Hosea Kutako airport (The Namibian 17-10-2019).* The remainder of this contribution will be published in upcoming editions.

Namibia Airports Company: Another Air Namibia looming? (Part 1)

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Namibia Airports Company: Another Air Namibia looming? (Part 1)

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