SHINOVENE IMMANUEL and CHARMAINE NGATJIHEUE PRESIDENT Hage Geingob is set to appoint 16 new diplomats.
This includes the possible appointment of Margaret Mensah-Williams, a member of parliament, as Namibia’s top emissary to the United States.
Two sources familiar with the matter over the weekend said presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari was also considered for a position in Namibia’s foreign service.
It is unclear whether a final decision has been made regarding his position.
The Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation last week confirmed that around 22 diplomats will be recalled by deputy prime minister and minister of international relations and cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, which is normal procedure after a representative’s four-year term has expired.
The appointments could be announced by the end of this month.
Namibia is likely to have a new ambassador at its new foreign station in Dubai.
Former minister of presidential affairs, Martin Andjaba, who previously served as ambassador to the USA, is tipped to be appointed as Namibia’s ambassador to Germany.
Sources said Namibia’s current ambassador to Germany, Andreas Guibeb, could be appointed as minister of presidential affairs.
Namibia’s outgoing representative at the United Nations in Switzerland, Penda Naanda, is tipped to return home and take up the position of executive director of international relations and cooperation.
He would replace the ministry’s former executive director, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi.
Mekondjo Kaapanda-Girnus, the commercial counsellor at Namibia’s High Commission in the United Kingdom, is allegedly one of the diplomats tipped to be redeployed.
Mensah-Williams would replace Monica Nashandi, who served as ambassador to the USA from 2018 to the middle of this year.
Mensah-Williams is currently a backbencher in the National Assembly and has faced allegations of sucking up to power.
Geingob rescued her last year after she failed to make it higher up on Swapo’s parliamentary list.
Her appointment to Washington comes around seven years after she was accused of using taxpayers’ money on lavish USA trips.
reported in 2013 that the National Council under her chairmanship spent close to N$400 000 in travel allowances alone for a trip to the US it had no business in.
She then denied any wrongdoing and branded allegations as a witch-hunt.
Mensah-Williams yesterday said she was not aware of her appointment to Washington, saying the president makes those appointments.
“I am in the National Assembly and very content with that. I was never approached by anyone, including the appointing authority,” she said.
Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari told on Monday that the “presidency has no comment to make on this matter and does not respond to public speculation regarding decisions of the President”.
“It is the prerogative of the President to make certain public service appointments as per the Namibian Constitution. The process of appointing Ambassadors and High Commissioners involves a complex process of an agrément with host countries and host institutions, which is managed by the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation,” he said.
Hengari said the public will be informed when the president makes the decisions.
The international relations ministry’s deputy director of information, Marbeline Goagoses, last week said all heads of missions who are due for recall were served with a standard notice of three months before their actual return date.
“The recall of ambassadors or foreign service officers posted abroad is done within the set regulations. The public will be informed when the process has been completed,” she said.
The deputy director added that the international relations ministry introduced the posting regulations that guide the operations of diplomats and their rotations.
The upcoming posting comes at a time when allegations of favouritism and entitlement in diplomatic circles are rife.
There appears to be some unhappiness in the international relations ministry.
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