By Kuvee Kangueehi
Windhoek
Deputy Minister of Finance, Tjekero Tweya says he fully supports the transfer of the Secretary to the Tender Board at the Ministry of Finance, Meriam Onesmus, to the division of Asset Management.
Speaking to New Era yesterday, Tweya said at a political level, the ministry has approved the transfer of various staff members within the ministry and does not understand why one person’s transfer should become an issue.
Tweya said nobody should hold a public office for life and attempts by some people to politicise the matter is childish and immature.
He noted that since independence, the Public Service has been rotating employees. Even permanent secretaries and ministers are moved.
“Unless there is something we do not know, we do not find anything wrong with the transfer, and why should this case be special?”
The transfer is not even a demotion and will not affect her way of living because she will be at the same duty station, he said.
“The ministry sometimes transfers people to different towns and disrupts the school attendance of the children of the staff members, but still approves it because it is in the interest of the country.”
The deputy minister said the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Carl Schlettwein, is exercising his right and will fully be supported by political heads of the ministry.
He noted that the ministry is ready for a legal battle with Onesmus and will not backtrack on its decision to move Onesmus to a different division.
Onesmus, who believes the transfer is not genuine and thinks that she is being victimised, wrote a letter through her lawyers to Schlettwein questioning her transfer to the division of asset management.
Sources within the ministry say it is not the first time that Schlettwein faces serious resistance with transfers. Last year, he failed to transfer Maru Tjihumino after a High Court order instructed him to re-instate him (Tjihumino) in his previous position.
In another incident, Schlettwein reportedly transferred an employee who was based in Swakopmund but after a few months, he was advised that the transfer was not in the interest of the ministry.
Subsequently, the ministry had to pay damages in excess of N$300?