Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has appointed new executive directors at the ministries of international relations and industrialisation and trade.
In a statement dated 13 November, Secretary to Cabinet, George Simataa, announced that Pendapala Naanda has been appointed as ED of the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, effective 1 January 2022, while Sikongo Haihambo was appointed in the same position at the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade, effective 1 December 2020. Both appointments were recommended by the Public Service Commission and are for a fixed contract of five years.
According to the statement, Naanda brings a wealth of experience acquired during many years of serving at senior and executive levels in the public sector. He has served as Namibia’s ambassador/permanent representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva and other international organisations in Switzerland since 2018 to date. Naanda also held several non-managerial positions at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation since 2006 before his appointment as deputy director of protocol in the same ministry in 2010. He was appointed as a director in the private office of the executive director of the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation in 2015 before his appointment as ambassador in 2018.
Meanwhile, Haihambo is a seasoned executive with over 25 years’ managerial experience at senior and executive levels in both the private and public sectors. Amongst others, he served as deputy chief executive officer: operations for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Namibia for five years, acting statistician general at the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), general manager commercial services at the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) for eight years, regional manager at Namibia Development Corporation (NDC/NIDA) for seven years, strategy implementation partner at Namibia Training Authority (NTA) for two years, acting chief executive officer for Rundu Town Council and management consultant in his own right.