Shikongo removal letter cites State House breach

A letter from president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to Namibian Police inspector general Joseph Shikongo cites the State House naked man incident as the reason for his removal.

Nandi-Ndaitwah announced on Tuesday night that she had replaced Shikongo with deputy inspector general for administration, major general Anne-Marie Nainda.

The announcement came days after a naked man was found inside the presidential residence.

The president did not give reasons for the removal in her public statement, fuelling speculation on whether there has been tension between her and Shikongo.

A senior government official familiar with the letter confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that the security breach was specifically named as the grounds for removal.

The letter was dispatched late on Tuesday after meetings of the country’s top security and political decision-makers.

Question marks remain around the role of the top security officials, including allegations that the wall around State House is already guarded by the defence forces.

Top officials were allegedly flown to Oshakati over the weekend in a meeting that was later considered as a service commission meeting.

At the meeting, one security related ministry pleaded to keep Shikongo, saying he was doing a good job, however, it appears the bridge was already crossed.

Another reason why Shikongo are apparently given the marching orders is that he refused to fire ex-presidential security chief commissioner Andreas Nelumbu and head of the VIP Protection Unit at State House Michael Abraham.

Shikongo is said to have insisted that labour laws did not allow arbitrary action, with no cause.

TRESPASS

Shikongo was removed four days after a naked Giano Seibeb was found in the presidential residence at State House.

Before his removal was announced publicly Shikongo, who was allegedly out of town at the time of the incident, had a meeting with the president on Monday morning.

A source familiar with the meeting told The Namibian on Tuesday that the president expressed dissatisfaction with what she described as weak police security arrangements.

The Presidency made an announcement in a media statement on Tuesday, but had not given the grounds for Shikongo’s removal.

“The president of the Republic of Namibia has appointed major general Anne-Marie Nainda as the acting inspector general of the Namibian Police Force, with immediate effect,” the Presidency’s statement reads.

According to the statement, Nainda will serve as police inspector general in an acting capacity for one year.

“The president has expressed full confidence in major general Nainda’s leadership and her ability to ensure the continued maintenance of law and order,” the statement also says.

Namrights executive director Phil ya Nangoloh says the reasons given for Shikongo’s removal do not add up.

“As an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance analyst, I advance firstly that nobody can enter State House in general and in particular the private residence of the president, without security clearance,” Ya Nangoloh says.

“Secondly, to reach the president’s private residence, one has to pass through several state security layers or check points controlled by the police, military intelligence, national intelligence and personal presidential security team.

Again, nobody can go through all those security check points unless he or she has the necessary and mandatory state security clearance.”

He also says Shikongo is a sacrificial lamb, a scapegoat and a target of a witchhunt.

However, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani says Nandi-Ndaitwah is not required to explain her decision to dismiss Shikongo.

Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, Venaani said the president has the constitutional authority to appoint and dismiss senior officials at her discretion.

“Those are constitutional provisions.

Any politician who says a president must explain his or her decision does not understand the nature of the information available to the head of state when making such decisions,” he said.

Venaani added that the president may act to avert potential crises and is not obligated to publicly justify such actions.

“This question should not even arise.

Sam Nujoma, Hifikepunye Pohamba, Hage Geingob and Nangolo Mbumba all served as presidents, did we question them? Why are we being sexist about the current president?” he asked.

He emphasised that the power to hire and fire is a core presidential prerogative.

“That’s presidential prerogative.

That is why I am committed to becoming president, to be able to take decisions on behalf of the collective interests of the country.

You do not need to explain every decision,” Venaani said.

Affirmative Repositing leader Job Amupanda suggests in a social media post that the decision is not valid.

Amupanda says this is because the security commission that appeared to have advised the president to remove Shikongo is not lawfully constituted.

Article 114 (2) of the Namibian Constitution states that two members of the National Assembly appointed by the president must be part of the security commission.

However, Amupanda says the current parliament has not submitted any member to the security commission.

“Any decision taken by the security commission without two members are of parliament is a nullity in terms of the principle of legality,”Amupanda writes.

However, subsection three of Article 114 states that the commission’s decisions are still valid although a member is absent. It is not clear whether the commission had a quorum or not.

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