Former health minister Bernard Haufiku has defended his business ties to a Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer after being accused of double standards.
His critics, mostly health tender beneficiaries, are accusing him of speaking out against middlemen in government health tenders while at the same time pushing for a private partnership with a Chinese medical manufacturer.
Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, Haufiku said the Chinese delegation was in Namibia to explore three objectives. He said they sought to register their anti-retroviral medicines for use in Namibia and the wider African market.
The delegation also wanted to establish partnerships with local academic institutions, such as the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) and the University of Namibia (Unam), to further research their HIV medications in Africa, he said.
“For this reason, we spent a day at Nust and met with Erold Naomab, the vice chancellor of Nust, and his team,” Haufiku said.
He said that he and Ian Sanne from the University of the Witwatersrand consulted for Jiangsu Aise Pharma in the field of HIV-AIDS medicines in Africa.
“Prof Sanne and I signed a consultancy agreement to this effect for a period of 12 months. My contract with them ended in March 2025. I have, however , not asked whether Prof Sanne still consults them,” Haufiku said.
He said the Chinese approached him through the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV-AIDS (Unaids) website as one of the three candidates for the Unaids executive director in Geneva in 2018/19.
The former minister of health and social services has been one of the strong opponents of middlemen in government procurement contracts.
This week, he said some contracts are inflated by as much as 300%.
Haufiku, who served as health minister from March 2015 to December 2018, wrote to then-executive director Ben Nangombe on 13 April 2024, requesting an audience on behalf of Jiangsu Aidea Pharma, a pharmaceutical research and development company based in Jiangsu City, China.
“We are writing to seek an audience with you with our visiting partners from Jiangsu Aidea Pharma Pty Ltd, from Jiangsu City, People’s Republic of China,” Haufiku stated in the letter.
He said Jiangsu Aidea Pharma is a pharmaceutical research and development entity that focuses on the development and manufacturing of antiretroviral products.
“They have mainly been focused on their domestic market for which they are leading manufacturers and suppliers,” Haufiku said.
Following the meeting, he wrote a formal letter of thanks to Nangombe on behalf of Africa Life Holdings Pty Ltd and the Chinese visitors.
“We, together with our visitors from Jiangsu Aidea Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd in China, put high value on the courtesy call and the short but highly informative meeting we had with you in your office,” Haufiku wrote.
“We are already hard at work to ensure all that is necessary is in place to ensure the successful implementation of our initiative in Namibia in the space of research and manufacturing.
Our team therefore remains positive and will rely on your support in this regard.”
Nangombe yesterday declined to comment on the matter.
“I am not at the ministry, I can’t comment on anything,” he said.
Last year, Haufiku led a delegation from China including scientists, medical professionals, and business people in the health sector on a courtesy visit to former president Nangolo Mbumba.
At the time, Mbumba urged them to create partnerships with Namibian businesses and institutions to improve Namibian’s health sector.
The delegations also met with then vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa.
Recently, president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah revealed that her administration has engaged India and Egypt to directly procure medicine from producers, thereby cutting out middlemen.
Haufiku, who was at the helm of the ministry since 2015, told Desert FM this week that he began noticing suspicious procurement patterns whenever he travelled outside the country, with certain purchases seemingly rushed through in his absence.
“When I was minister, I detected some purchases of items in a way that shouldn’t have been the case.
One observation I made was that items were overpriced – in some instances by as much as 300%. That’s what alerted me,” he said.
“I noticed that all of this was happening whenever I travel out of the country, so it seems that there was a gap of these businesses that didn’t seem to be above board. That is what alerted me.”
Haufiku added: “The problems by the time were deeper than the eye could see.
I could only believe that at least these matters were looked into and hopefully accountability and whoever needed to answer these questions could answer.”
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