City chief defends personnel policy

THE City of Windhoek has denied that its recruitment policy and staff structure favour certain individuals while others are denied promotion.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Niilo Taapopi, says all appointments are done in line with the City’s recruitment policy and guidelines as approved by the City Council. Taapopi was responding to questions from The Namibian following claims that he single-handedly promoted some individuals through the creation of new positions and rejection of recommendations made by interview panels.In one such instance, sources claimed that Taapopi promoted his Personal Assistant, Elly Shipiki, to the position of Manager: Housing and Property.The position was under the division of planning but Taapopi moved it to fall directly under his office before appointing Shipiki.Sources, some of whom applied for the position, claimed they has not been informed of the outcome even though they were short-listed and interviewed.The Namibian understands that Shipiki was not on the first two shortlists but that Taapopi rejected both lists and gave the interview panel another one to which he had added Shipiki’s name.Those who short-listed the candidates claimed earlier that Shipiki was not “properly qualified”.In adding Shipiki’s name, Taapopi allegedly deleted the name of a certain Uirab from the shortlist while suitably qualified town planners in the City of Windhoek were allegedly overlooked.Taapopi said that Shipiki met the requirements fully.He said the division of planning and housing had been in the news recently because of fraudulent activities and this had necessitated a proper investigation and streamlining of operations.”Hence it was placed directly under my office temporarily, under the daily supervision of Organisational Performance Management Division (OPMD),” Taapopi said.The Organisational Performance Management Division was created recently and sources claimed this was done because its new manager, Justine Joseph, had personal differences with her superior at the Human Resources division.”He took her out and created the position for her,” sources said.Taapopi denied that the position was created for an individual.He said Joseph was assigned to improve the overall performance of all departments.”This was done with consultation and consent of the head of HR Department and thus there is nothing strange about that,” he said.He said change was imperative to improve the City of Windhoek’s performance and “naturally resistance to change by some people may be expected”.He said he was guided by the human resource mission to recruit, train, develop and retain competent people.Sources claimed that Taapopi was too involved in appointing staff instead of leaving some duties to the strategic executives.Taapopi was responding to questions from The Namibian following claims that he single-handedly promoted some individuals through the creation of new positions and rejection of recommendations made by interview panels.In one such instance, sources claimed that Taapopi promoted his Personal Assistant, Elly Shipiki, to the position of Manager: Housing and Property.The position was under the division of planning but Taapopi moved it to fall directly under his office before appointing Shipiki.Sources, some of whom applied for the position, claimed they has not been informed of the outcome even though they were short-listed and interviewed.The Namibian understands that Shipiki was not on the first two shortlists but that Taapopi rejected both lists and gave the interview panel another one to which he had added Shipiki’s name.Those who short-listed the candidates claimed earlier that Shipiki was not “properly qualified”.In adding Shipiki’s name, Taapopi allegedly deleted the name of a certain Uirab from the shortlist while suitably qualified town planners in the City of Windhoek were allegedly overlooked.Taapopi said that Shipiki met the requirements fully.He said the division of planning and housing had been in the news recently because of fraudulent activities and this had necessitated a proper investigation and streamlining of operations.”Hence it was placed directly under my office temporarily, under the daily supervision of Organisational Performance Management Division (OPMD),” Taapopi said.The Organisational Performance Management Division was created recently and sources claimed this was done because its new manager, Justine Joseph, had personal differences with her superior at the Human Resources division.”He took her out and created the position for her,” sources said.Taapopi denied that the position was created for an individual.He said Joseph was assigned to improve the overall performance of all departments.”This was done with consultation and consent of the head of HR Department and thus there is nothing strange about that,” he said.He said change was imperative to improve the City of Windhoek’s performance and “naturally resistance to change by some people may be expected”.He said he was guided by the human resource mission to recruit, train, develop and retain competent people.Sources claimed that Taapopi was too involved in appointing staff instead of leaving some duties to the strategic executives.