The Mining, Metal, Maritime and Construction Workers Union wants ministry of agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform executive director Teofilus Nghitila to be removed due to his alleged irregular involvement in fishing quotas and rights.
The union has threatened to petition Nghitila’s position should he fail to remove himself.
Nghitila was recently appointed by prime minister Elijah Ngurare in his current portfolio, and he previously served as the executive director in the environment and tourism ministry.
The bone of contention follows reports in 2021 that Nghitila and a chief legal adviser in the attorney general’s office, Chris Nghaamwa, led a fishing company called Omukokoli Fishing.
It was reported that the line ministry failed to punish the Omukokoli Fishing company, which was accused of illegal fishing, and only imposed extra levies and taxes for harvesting fish without a permit.
Omukokoli was granted exploratory rights in 2015 by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources at the time to harvest sole fish.
The ministry, however, terminated its licence on 24 June 2021 for harvesting tonnes of fish it was not permitted to.
A combined illegal fish load totalling 43 166 tonnes was reportedly offloaded between 28 April 2021 and 5 May 2021. From 24 May to 5 June, the vessel offloaded 53 000 tonnes of illegal catches, while only harvesting 1 900 tonnes of the permitted sole, according to records by the Fisheries Observer Agency.
“We as a union are busy staging a petition in that specific regard, because you cannot have an executive director that is going to be distributing fishing quotas and rights of fishing and the livelihoods of the fishing sector who himself is linked to a fishing company that was never held accountable,” says union’s acting secretary general, Joseph Garoeb
He says Nghitila should have declined the fisheries position and requested to be sent to another ministry.
Garoeb says to have Nghitila as an accounting officer of fisheries is not fair to the industry and they will engage the president and line minister Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi to remove him or reassign him.
He states that they have engaged the minister and conveyed that they do not have confidence in Nghitila, who was assigned to handle the former Namsov and Heineste fishermen backpay matter.
“We cannot trust someone who failed to account for his company’s illegal harvest of fish and never even came out to announce himself on the matter,” he says.
The union has since given the minister till next week to pronounce herself on the matter.
‘I DO NOT OWN A FISHING COMPANY’
Meanwhile, the executive director has denounced the reports, stating that he does not own any fishing company.
“The company I was part of was for exploratory quota purposes only, which was cancelled. Exploratory quotas are not fishing rights. The purpose of the exploratory quota was to assist the ministry to do experiments. I own no fishing rights nor an exploratory quota,” Nghitila says.
He adds that there is no conflict of interest and he does not see any reason for recusing himself as he is not a rightholder in the fishing industry.
“The company which I was involved in with this exploratory quota has since been de-registered,” he says.
Nghitila says the fishing industry has the potential to grow the economy, create more jobs and contribute to food security. What’s required is building trust and understanding.
If the industry starts working together with the ministry, he says, the industry will revive, taking into account climate change.
IRRESPONSIBLE APPOINMENT
Swanu of Namibia president Evilastus Kaaronda says the idea behind a corruption free and transparent society is premised on the mantra that actions must not just be fair, they must also be seen to be fair.
“In this sense, appointing someone to a position of such significance whose reputation is not without a blemish is both irresponsible and retrogressive,” Kaaronda says.
He says the fisheries sector is still not out of the woods as far as corruption and illicit activities are concerned, citing that those in charge of the government must be sensitive when making appointments.
“We must move beyond political patronage when making these appointments and allow as many interested Namibians as possible to be fairly considered and not just those close to the ruling party and its corrupt elites,” he adds.
The Office of the Prime Minister did not revert at the time of going to print.
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