Spotlight at DBC probe falls on parastatal boards

INFORMATION emerging at the Presidential inquiry into the DBC and Amcom could unravel some of the mysteries underpinning widespread mismanagement at most State-owned enterprises in the country.

During the past two days, the public hearings have been treated to startling confessions by directors of the Namibia Bricks Enterprise (NBE), a subsidiary of the Development Brigade Corporation, that they did not anything about the affairs of the company. “To be honest with you and myself, honourable members [of the commission] we were never involved in the company, we are just board members on paper,” Petrus Kauluma, who had served on the NBE board since 1996, confessed on Wednesday.Board chairperson, Pheny Kalumbu, yesterday added:”We were not responsible for the finances or administration of the company …you won’t understand, but it’s difficult for me to answer, we were not informed about was happening in the company.”Asked how they kept track of the running of the company, Kauluma said:”We used to verbally ask the lady [NBE General Manager, Rachel Nghipondoka Niiho] when we met somewhere how is the business.Sometimes she said it’s okay and sometimes not so good.”Testimony, which at times bordered on comedy, left a visibly stunned head of the Presidential probe, Petrus Unengu, remarking:”Oh my goodness … you are honest you did not know what your duties were as board members.”The non-involvement of the board ostensibly left NBE GM Niiho to run the company single-handedly, while the directors rubber-stamped her decisions without asking questions.It emerged during the hearings that Niiho disposed of the company assets without authorisation, set the agenda at board meetings and determined her own salary increments and benefits.Niiho, her husband and her sister are apparently the highest paid employees of NBE.The husband is employed as a supervisor, while the sister is the asset-keeper at the Keetmanshoop centre which has since ceased its operations.According to the commission’s legal counsel Eldorette Harmse, NBE suffered consistent losses running into millions of dollars since its inception in 1996.The commissioners sketched the whole scenario concerning the affairs of NBE and asked the board members what their next steps would be to rescue the company.”My next step is to quit,” Kauluma, a self-professed ‘traditional judge’ in the Ondonga Traditional Authority, responded to some giggles.”What should I do?” asked the other director, Kalumbu, who said that she did not know the number of NBE employees and that she had come to know about most of the company’s affairs during the hearings.The commissioners remained unconvinced by Kalumbu’s constant claims that the NBE board was merely symbolic and did not have any power.Commissioner Brian Nalisa advised her to go and read the Companies Act.The commission also grilled Kauluma about a possible conflict of interest on his part when he negotiated a deal for Stocks and Stocks to purchase bricks from NBE at a reduced price.Stocks and Stocks was building the Pandu Crest Lodge Hotel at Ondangwa, in which Kauluma is one of the main shareholders.Kauluma said that he negotiated a reduced price because there was stiff competition in the North and “if you put your prices high you lose out”.But Unengu put it to him that he [Kauluma] personally benefited because the contractor might have charged the owners of the hotel less as a reward to Kauluma for securing them bricks at a cheaper price.”That time did not know [of the possible conflict of interest], I just thought I was securing a business for NBE,” Kauluma stated.”To be honest with you and myself, honourable members [of the commission] we were never involved in the company, we are just board members on paper,” Petrus Kauluma, who had served on the NBE board since 1996, confessed on Wednesday.Board chairperson, Pheny Kalumbu, yesterday added:”We were not responsible for the finances or administration of the company …you won’t understand, but it’s difficult for me to answer, we were not informed about was happening in the company.”Asked how they kept track of the running of the company, Kauluma said:”We used to verbally ask the lady [NBE General Manager, Rachel Nghipondoka Niiho] when we met somewhere how is the business.Sometimes she said it’s okay and sometimes not so good.”Testimony, which at times bordered on comedy, left a visibly stunned head of the Presidential probe, Petrus Unengu, remarking:”Oh my goodness … you are honest you did not know what your duties were as board members.”The non-involvement of the board ostensibly left NBE GM Niiho to run the company single-handedly, while the directors rubber-stamped her decisions without asking questions.It emerged during the hearings that Niiho disposed of the company assets without authorisation, set the agenda at board meetings and determined her own salary increments and benefits.Niiho, her husband and her sister are apparently the highest paid employees of NBE.The husband is employed as a supervisor, while the sister is the asset-keeper at the Keetmanshoop centre which has since ceased its operations.According to the commission’s legal counsel Eldorette Harmse, NBE suffered consistent losses running into millions of dollars since its inception in 1996.The commissioners sketched the whole scenario concerning the affairs of NBE and asked the board members what their next steps would be to rescue the company.”My next step is to quit,” Kauluma, a self-professed ‘traditional judge’ in the Ondonga Traditional Authority, responded to some giggles.”What should I do?” asked the other director, Kalumbu, who said that she did not know the number of NBE employees and that she had come to know about most of the company’s affairs during the hearings.The commissioners remained unconvinced by Kalumbu’s constant claims that the NBE board was merely symbolic and did not have any power.Commissioner Brian Nalisa advised her to go and read the Companies Act.The commission also grilled Kauluma about a possible conflict of interest on his part when he negotiated a deal for Stocks and Stocks to purchase bricks from NBE at a reduced price.Stocks and Stocks was building the Pandu Crest Lodge Hotel at Ondangwa, in which Kauluma is one of the main shareholders.Kauluma said that he negotiated a reduced price because there was stiff competition in the North and “if you put your prices high you lose out”.But Unengu put it to him that he [Kauluma] personally benefited because the contractor might have charged the owners of the hotel less as a reward to Kauluma for securing them bricks at a cheaper price.”That time did not know [of the possible conflict of interest], I just thought I was securing a business for NBE,” Kauluma stated.