MVA on road to recovery

THE Motor Vehicle Fund of Namibia (MVA), currently experiencing financial sustainability, is aiming at developing a model fund that will focus more on accident victims and inherently counter deviants and fraudulent claims.

Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, MVA Fund CEO, Jeremia Muadinohamba, said an actuarial report of MVA Fund operations, which would reveal the extent of the Fund’s liabilities and steps to be taken henceforth, would be released in six weeks. “Our vision is to develop a model that is unmatchable where our primary focus is to be able to support the victims and move away from this cash-cow mentality of paying out lump sums,” he said.MVA Fund has appointed former Zimbabwean judge, Chris Greenland, as its technical advisor, on a four month-period which ends in August, to assist with the transformation of the Fund.Greenland who has worked on the Road Accident Fund in South Africa and the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund in Botswana, and helped with implementing beneficial change in those countries, believes that the challenges Namibia is currently facing can be dealt with successfully.Muadinohamba said besides the hiring of Greenland, the MVA Fund was also working with other groups that included forensic experts, actuarial scientists, legal advisers among others on the transformation process.The process, which started two months ago, has been divided into two parts, which are addressing functional integrity and legislative review.The two are being conducted simultaneously.In addition, MVA Fund is requesting input from relevant stakeholders to enrich the process that would lead to a legislative model that is responsive to the needs of victims of motor vehicle accidents in Namibia.In a recent statement, MVA Fund Chairman Phillip Amunyela said: “The expected outcome of the transformation initiative is a compensation scheme that provides reasonable benefits within the constraints of Namibia’s prevailing economic conditions.”Muadinohamba explained that despite the parastatal’s financial problems, the MVA Fund was still paying out claims.Last month, the Minister of Finance, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila expressed support for the transformation and called for the urgent resolution of the fund’s problems.”It is crucially important that the fund’s problems be aggressively addressed so that claims are processed without unnecessary delays and without wastage of public funds.”As a people oriented government we regard the rights of victims as extremely important.”The MVA Fund is a public insurance agency which gets up to a maximum of N$ 4 million per month from the Fuel Levy Fund in the Ministry of Mines and Energy.”Our vision is to develop a model that is unmatchable where our primary focus is to be able to support the victims and move away from this cash-cow mentality of paying out lump sums,” he said.MVA Fund has appointed former Zimbabwean judge, Chris Greenland, as its technical advisor, on a four month-period which ends in August, to assist with the transformation of the Fund.Greenland who has worked on the Road Accident Fund in South Africa and the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund in Botswana, and helped with implementing beneficial change in those countries, believes that the challenges Namibia is currently facing can be dealt with successfully.Muadinohamba said besides the hiring of Greenland, the MVA Fund was also working with other groups that included forensic experts, actuarial scientists, legal advisers among others on the transformation process.The process, which started two months ago, has been divided into two parts, which are addressing functional integrity and legislative review.The two are being conducted simultaneously.In addition, MVA Fund is requesting input from relevant stakeholders to enrich the process that would lead to a legislative model that is responsive to the needs of victims of motor vehicle accidents in Namibia.In a recent statement, MVA Fund Chairman Phillip Amunyela said: “The expected outcome of the transformation initiative is a compensation scheme that provides reasonable benefits within the constraints of Namibia’s prevailing economic conditions.”Muadinohamba explained that despite the parastatal’s financial problems, the MVA Fund was still paying out claims.Last month, the Minister of Finance, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila expressed support for the transformation and called for the urgent resolution of the fund’s problems.”It is crucially important that the fund’s problems be aggressively addressed so that claims are processed without unnecessary delays and without wastage of public funds.”As a people oriented government we regard the rights of victims as extremely important.”The MVA Fund is a public insurance agency which gets up to a maximum of N$ 4 million per month from the Fuel Levy Fund in the Ministry of Mines and Energy.