In the intricate ecosystem of pension fund governance, numerous players operate with distinct but interconnected responsibilities. Trustees provide strategic oversight, principal officers steer daily operations, asset managers grow the fund’s wealth, and the regulator ensures legal compliance. Amidst all this, one key actor often goes unnoticed, the pension fund administrator. Though they may not attract...
Letters
Letter – What’s in a doctoral journey? Part 2
In Part 1, I mentioned that the process of the allocation of supervisors and students’ doctoral research proposals in most universities usually takes undue time, running to months and months on end. Once this frustrating process is complete, and you have your supervisors and proposal approved, introduce yourself to your supervisors and prove to them...
Letter – What’s in a doctoral journey?
Part 1 So you have decided to embark on the highest academic journey, the doctoral journey? You have either registered for your doctorate, or doctor of philosophy, PhD (whatever other name it is called, as long as it is a doctorate), or you are at proposal stage or data-collection stage of your study. You want...
Shielding mineworkers from tangents of pilgrimage
For too long the mining sector has been a chief contributor and hence has always been a critical sector of the Namibian economy with a blind eye on the ownership of shares when it comes to mine workers. Over the past years, the mining has been very visible both in expansion and industrialization. As a...
Letter – Namibia’s strategic opportunity in global energy transition
As the global push for decarbonisation accelerates, the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is emerging as a key policy shaping international trade. The CBAM imposes carbon tariffs on high-emission imports to ensure they meet the EU’s climate standards and to discourage carbon leakage, the practice of outsourcing manufacturing and its associated emissions to...
Letter – Servanthood: The crux of leadership
In his classic book ‘Servant Leadership: Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness’, Robert K. Greenleaf suggests that the concept of the servant as leader emerged from reading Hermann Hesse’s ‘Journey to the East’. In that story, Leo accompanies a party on a journey as the servant who does their menial chores, and...
Letter – NNN: Breaking the glass ceiling, raising Namibia high
Congratulations, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah for being the first female President of the Republic of Namibia, and the second elected female Prisident in Africa.You have achieved a historic milestone in the political landscape of the Republic of Namibia. Namibia has shown the rest of the world that it’s not only about men ascending to the Presidential...
Letter – Holy Communion, a divine blessing or political symbolism
The notion that a president should be blessed or receive holy communion from the church before assuming the nation’s highest office is not a misnomer. What does this signify for an incoming president in terms of religion, politics and the economy? Despite its Western roots, it is no coincidence that Africans also observe this tradition....
Letter – A letter to Namibia’s first female president
After the country gained independence in 1990, one of the items on the agenda was to promote women’s equality and equity, something that seemed challenging to achieve. However, those given that responsibility ensured that it was not just a dream. One cannot discuss equality and equity without appreciating the artistic contributions of women, which later...
Letter – Navigating the Namibian public procurement landscape
The Public Procurement Act 15 of 2015 came into operation in 2017, with the objective of harmonising procurement policies, systems and practices across Government and State-owned Enterprises (SOEs). Prior to the implementation of the Act, SOEs managed their procurements completely differently from the Government. Public procurement serves as a socio-economic empowerment tool in most African...