The Namibian Police have reportedly beefed up security for National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia board chairperson Jennifer Comalie after receiving information of an
alleged plot to harm her.
Comalie, however, said the police were still busy assessing the security threats after reports that her
unorthodox approach to deal with affairs at Namcor could land her in trouble. But police sources confirmed that she is already receiving protection.
“The police are busy with the security assessment. That is still being processed,” Comalie said yesterday when contacted. Meanwhile, acting police inspector general Anne-Marie Nainda confirmed Comalie’s version.
“The process commenced, and is progressive. However, Nampol is not in a position to comment at this stage until the exercise is completed,” she responded to comprehensive questions.
The latest development in the Namcor saga comes a week after Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises Iipumbu Shiimi penned a letter to police chief Joseph Shikongo, claiming that Comalie’s life and those closest to her could be in danger. Shikongo is expected to resume duty next week. Shiimi also requested that a security assessment be conducted around Comalie’s safety.
The letter ironically reached Shikongo’s desk while Comalie was set to appear before a magistrate over charges relating to alleged drug possession. She was granted bail, which the State neither opposed nor attached conditions to. Narrating the ordeal to Shiimi, Comalie supposedly requested a meeting with him and his energy colleague Tom Alweendo, who said she alerted them that a close relative of her told her that “people are not happy with what she is doing at Namcor, and these people will take unspecified action against her.”
Shiimi said Comalie was initially unbothered by the threats until she started being concerned about her daughter’s safety. The two ministers informed her to watch her back, and told her to inform the police if she observed any strange activities.
A police search found 935 grams of cannabis, 60 units of crack cocaine, and 10 grams of cocaine powder with a combined street value of N$57 000 in her car before a scheduled board meeting, resulting in Comalie’s arrest.
Greasy
Yesterday, she confirmed being locked in meetings all day following Tuesday night’s board decision to indefinitely suspend
Namcor managing director Immanuel Mulunga, who many until then thought was “untouchable”. The Comalie-led board appointed seasoned executive Lionel Matthews, fresh from his brief stint at the cash-strapped rail company TransNamib, in the interim to smoothen an investigation into Mulunga’s alleged sins. Mulunga and Comalie have been on a warpath over the former’s alleged involvement in a payment of over N$100 million for two Angolanoil blocks. “The board has elected and appointed Mr Matthews as acting managing director for an initial period of six months, effective as from Wednesday, 12 April 2023. The appointment of an external acting managing director will allow for objective leadership and an independent investigation,” reads part of a board statement released yesterday afternoon.
For now, Namcor’s executive for business strategy Shiwana Ndeunyema is keeping the seat warm for Matthews in an acting capacity.
The board reiterated its commitment to ensure that issues faced by the oil entity are addressed in the interest of the “company and the nation at large”. “We believe that a strong relationship between board and management is of paramount importance, and we have committed to putting interventions in place to address these shortcomings in order to regain the trust relationship and ensure that we operate in a mutually-stimulating environment that ensures the execution of our strategy,” Comalie stated.
Oil 1
Last week, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) summoned Mulunga to provide it with documentary evidence relating to alleged irregularities around the payment of N$100 million. “We have served summons to the managing director of Namcor to provide [the] ACC with an affidavit, and furnish supporting documents relating to the alleged payment of N$100 million into a certain bank account. The summons outline the details of information the ACC requests to be furnished with,” ACC director general Paulus Noa had said.
Mulunga obliged, with Noa later quoted as describing the meeting with the oil executive as fruitful.
“We are happy that they [ACC] have requested this documentation so that we [can] prove that there’s no corruption involved in this transaction,” he said. The transaction in question, it has been reported, involves Angolan oil blocks in a joint venture
between Namcor and Angola’s state-owned oil giant, Sonangol. Since news broke that he single-handedly authorised a payment exceeding N$100 million for two Angolan oil blocks without the board’s blessings, many have been baying for Mulunga’s head. According to impeccable sources, only one of the five board members OK’d the transaction. When Comalie was asked about the mysterious
board member, she replied: “I can’t give a comment on that [at the moment].”
Meanwhile, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has upped the ante on the Namcor matter. Its leader, McHenry
Venaani, yesterday submitted to Parliament that “this House initiates an investigation
into what appears to be a bitterly unscrupulous power struggle rendering to itself
perceptions of Mafia-style corporate governance unfolding at the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia, and ultimately warranting concern and suspicion surrounding the management and possible looting of Namibia’s natural resources, promoting public distrust.”
Venaani continued: “That this motion be referred to the relevant standing committee, allowing that this House fully invokes the powers of [the] said committee to subpoena witnesses to appear before it, as provided
for by the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament Act.”