The Namibia Press Agency (Nampa) has taken issue with a newspaper report, which insinuated the agency was a problematic public enterprise.
The Namibian article, among others, claimed the news agency had splashed N$40 million of public funds on its new office building, allegations Nampa CEO Linus Chata said was littered with a string of blatant misinformation.
“To put the record straight, Nampa did not “splash” N$40 million of public funds on its new office building. The truth is that Nampa borrowed the funds for the construction of its head office building from a local commercial bank (Nedbank), ceding N$8 million to the bank in the process,” Chata said.
He also said Nampa’s organisational structure was not too heavy as alleged by the report, adding the agency currently has one executive position of the CEO, two departmental managers and three head of divisions, of which only one is vacant.
“The agency wage bill is not N$30 million per year as reported; it is rather below half of this amount per annum,” he explained.
Furthermore, Chata said, the public needs to know that Nampa has consistently produced sound financial statements annually since its inception 1992.
“Only once, a couple of years ago, in its entire existence did the agency receive a qualified audit opinion. The issue that was highlighted by the auditor were swiftly rectified and subsequent audit reports have been receiving unqualified audit opinions,” he added, saying Nampa was never bailed out by government since its inception.
“The agency, which is a non-commercial public service provider, has, in fact, been operating under a position of chronic underfunding. As a matter of fact, the agency can sustain its operation annually with a mere N$25 million,” he said.
“Nampa cannot be considered as a problematic state enterprise as insinuated in the article. If anything, Nampa is one of the few public enterprises that are transparent, accountable and compliant,” he said.