By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WINDHOEK The Roads Contractor Company (RCC) on Friday confirmed that the company and suspended Chief Executive, Kelly Nghixulifwa, have reached a settlement. According to a statement from the company, the two parties reached “mutual agreement” whereby Nghixulifwa will relinquish his position as CEO from 1 January, 2007. The cryptic statement from the RCC board announcing its decision throws no light on the murky dealings at the company recently, and its affairs remain as clear as mud. The statement gives no information to indicate why the RCC has abruptly decided to abandon further attempts to take disciplinary steps against Nghixulifwa. The only explanation seems to be that the RCC has accepted that it did not follow correct procedures when it brought disciplinary charges against its suspended chief executive. Some of the disciplinary charges Nghixulifwa faced are allegedly related to the RCC’s involvement in /AeÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ //Gams Engineering’s controversial B1 Motor City project. The RCC allegedly accused Nghixulifwa of “recklessly” committing the company to act as developer for the project. He was further alleged to have provided an unsecured RCC loan for purchasing land for the project, thereby exposing the company to serious financial risk. The RCC is now believed to be considering legal action against /AeÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ //Gams Engineering to recover N$9 million it claims the company owes it in connection with the B1 Motor City project. Former top municipal officials, Hafeni Nhinamwaami and Martin Shipanga, were revealed as being involved in /AeÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ //Gams Engineering as trustees of an entity named the Sirrka Vilho Memorial Trust. There were unsubstantiated allegations that the two former municipal officials may have improperly used their positions at the Windhoek Municipality to unfairly acquire the strategically located Erf 10485 for the project. To people’s shock and amazement, it has now emerged that the RCC has made Martin Shipanga a director of the RCC. This appears to show a shameless disregard for all standards of good corporate governance, and even the most basic standards of propriety. Nghixulifwa apparently recommended Shipanga to Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, Joel Kaapanda, for appointment to the RCC board just before the company suspended him in August last year. The company is believed to have appointed Shipanga to its board some time in early November – only a matter of days before Shipanga’s involvement in /AeÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ //Gams Engineering became public knowledge. Once his involvement in /AeÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ //Gams became known, however, it is surprising that Shipanga himself did not see it fit to resign from the RCC board, as there appears to be a clear conflict of interests. According to one well-placed source, he does not even seem to feel any moral obligation to recuse himself from board meetings dealing with the Nghixulifwa or /AeÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ //Gams Engineering problems. In early December, High Court judge Mavis Gibson ordered the suspension of the disciplinary hearing against Nghixulifwa, pending a High Court hearing on the matter scheduled for February 2 this year. Justice Gibson made the order following an urgent application brought by Nghixulifwa in the High Court arguing that the RCC had failed to adhere to its own disciplinary procedures when it brought charges against him. “The board believes this is in the best interest of RCC, as the company looks towards establishing itself firmly as the premier civil engineering entity delivering quality services in Namibia,” is all the RCC board is prepared to reveal. The likelihood is that the RCC will have given Nghixulifwa a substantial cash settlement as a “golden parachute”, possibly with generous pension and medical aid benefits. In the meantime, the public is left none the wiser about whether any financial impropriety has taken place at the parastatal, or what the financial health of the publicly-owned company is. It is further not clear whether the RCC is now sweeping the whole matter under the carpet, and whether this is the last anyone will ever hear about it. The affair raises important questions about the standards of corporate governance and transparency at some of Namibia’s parastatals. These are problems the new Central Governance Agency (CGA) was supposed to have addressed, but the CGA has remained conspicuously silent about the shenanigans at the RCC. A source familiar with events at the RCC has, however, hinted that the settlement reached with Nghixulifwa is not the end of the affair. According to this source, the RCC board’s primary concern is to recover the N$9 million it claims /Ae//ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ Gams Engineering owes it. The RCC is seemingly also concerned about wasting public funds by paying Nghixulifwa his salary and benefits while the case perhaps drags on for another two years. If, however, a forensic audit shows the RCC has grounds for pursuing either a criminal or civil action against Nghixulifwa, the RCC is apparently leaving the door open for such action. The source further hinted that the RCC might still lay charges against Nghixulifwa with the Anti-Corruption Commission, under the Anti-Corruption Act. Meanwhile, Nghixulifwa himself was not prepared to say much about the “Separation Agreement” with the RCC. “We reached a mutually acceptable separation agreement. We have turned a new page, and life goes on. Under the current circumstances, this was the best solution we could find. At one time or another we had to find an end to this and, in the circumstances, we had to learn to compromise,” Nghixulifwa said. Nghixulifwa reiterated that he did not agree with the charges the RCC had brought against him and that he took the matter to the High Court because he felt the charges were unfair.