False Story of CEO Dismissal

I WISH to respond to a recent ‘letter’ written by Mr Abed-Nego Nghifikwa, which was published in a local daily.

In his ‘letter’, which was meant to be a response to Citizen Nahas Angula’s earlier article, Mr Nghifikwa lists a number of people whom he claims were ‘mistreated’ and/or lost their jobs in State-owned Enterprises apparently because they were from Ohangwena Region. He lists my name among those people.I cannot speak for any of the other people listed by him but I take strong exception to his falsification of facts.I was successfully employed as Chief Executive of a State-owned Enterprise.I recently made a normal career move to a private sector company.I made this move out of my own free will in line with my long-term career plans, and discussed the move well in advance with both my Shareholding Minister and Board of Directors.I was never mistreated nor did I ever lose my job.In fact, I had the best working relationship with my Board and Shareholding Minister.Had this private sector opportunity not come up at the time it did, I would still have been serving happily in that role.When Mr Nghifikwa’s ‘letter’ was first circulated in Windhoek, I called him and pointed out that he had written factual inaccuracies.I told him that I was never mistreated by anybody and that I never lost my job.I asked him where he got his information from.He informed me (and I had a witness listening in on the conversation) that he did not write the ‘letter’.According to him, some youngsters in Windhoek wrote the ‘letter’ and used his details for sign-off.He refused to reveal the names of these youngsters.I left the matter there at the time after having taken counsel from friends and family.Now, I see that Mr Nghifikwa had proceeded to publicise what he knows to be untrue as he had originally written it (or, if you accept his version of the story, as the youngsters had written it for him).I sincerely hope that he will now take appropriate action against these youngsters for proceeding to publicise lies in his name.The authors know very well that their version about me is devoid of any truth.They are using people’s names to try and advance their own misguided interests.People whom they have never met or spoken to; and who do not even share their interests.I have made my point: I was never mistreated and never lost my job.People who operate from dark corners must please learn to tell the truth.They must separate fact from fiction.And they must know that they cannot advance their interests on the back of falsehoods.Sakaria H.Nghikembua, Via e-mailHe lists my name among those people.I cannot speak for any of the other people listed by him but I take strong exception to his falsification of facts.I was successfully employed as Chief Executive of a State-owned Enterprise.I recently made a normal career move to a private sector company.I made this move out of my own free will in line with my long-term career plans, and discussed the move well in advance with both my Shareholding Minister and Board of Directors.I was never mistreated nor did I ever lose my job.In fact, I had the best working relationship with my Board and Shareholding Minister.Had this private sector opportunity not come up at the time it did, I would still have been serving happily in that role.When Mr Nghifikwa’s ‘letter’ was first circulated in Windhoek, I called him and pointed out that he had written factual inaccuracies.I told him that I was never mistreated by anybody and that I never lost my job.I asked him where he got his information from.He informed me (and I had a witness listening in on the conversation) that he did not write the ‘letter’.According to him, some youngsters in Windhoek wrote the ‘letter’ and used his details for sign-off.He refused to reveal the names of these youngsters.I left the matter there at the time after having taken counsel from friends and family.Now, I see that Mr Nghifikwa had proceeded to publicise what he knows to be untrue as he had originally written it (or, if you accept his version of the story, as the youngsters had written it for him).I sincerely hope that he will now take appropriate action against these youngsters for proceeding to publicise lies in his name.The authors know very well that their version about me is devoid of any truth.They are using people’s names to try and advance their own misguided interests.People whom they have never met or spoken to; and who do not even share their interests.I have made my point: I was never mistreated and never lost my job.People who operate from dark corners must please learn to tell the truth.They must separate fact from fiction.And they must know that they cannot advance their interests on the back of falsehoods.Sakaria H.Nghikembua, Via e-mail