Uaandja Takes On Kaaronda

Open letter to Evilastus Kaaronda, Secretary General of the National Union of Namibian Workers Dear Mr Kaaronda, Re: Union slams government over parastatals THE Central Governance Agency (CGA) has the distinct and rare honour and privilege to respond to the allegations levelled against the CGA in the article published in The Namibian, which article purportedly is attributed to the speech given to by the NUNW Secretary General, Mr Evilastus Kaaronda, during the Congress of the Namibian Food and Allied Workers’ Union, held in Gobabis.

Whilst it is the Constitutional democratic right of freedom and expression of Mr Kaaronda to express his opinion about the corporate governance practice and activities of the CGA, it is with a great deal of concern that such views are expressed without cross-checking the correctness of hard-core facts with the CGA, prior to communicating these wrong views to NAFAU. In the said article, The Namibian quoted Mr Kaaronda as having said, inter alia, that: “Government has pumped millions into the Central Governance Agency, but what have they achieved so far? Things are as bad as it was even before that Agency came into being”.Before delving into the specific charges of Mr Kaaronda against the CGA, we would like to provide a background of what the CGA has been doing since May 2003 to date, when CGA commenced with its operations.Unlike other governmental institutions, which start their operations, whilst having their legal mandates in place, from inception, the CGA was tasked with the finalisation of “both the legal instruments and a comprehensive policy for the restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), as well as the establishment of CGA”.In a nutshell, there was no Act in place instituting the SOEGC or the CGA.The CGA, together with the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Council (SOEGC), started to piece together information, which formed the foundation of the relevant legislation, and culminated in the passing into law of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006 (Act No.2 of 2006), which Act was recently assented to by the President of the Republic of Namibia and published in the Government Gazette No.3698, on September 14, 2006.Yes, we do agree that it took some time to have the said Act passed into law, but in a democratic governance system, where consultation and consensus are paramount prerequisites, it was absolutely necessary that all the relevant stakeholders, including, but not limited to the trade unions, were consulted.Furthermore, in terms of section 50 of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006, the Commencement Date still needs to be determined by the President of Namibia, before the Act will become in force and operational.However, we are reliably informed that the Office of the Attorney General is busy preparing the Proclamation for the Commencement Date of the said Act, which Proclamation then needs to be signed by both the Attorney-General and thereafter, the Head of State.Only once the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006 is in force and operational will the SOEGC and its Secretariat be legally empowered to take up the mandate of promoting “the efficiency, transparency, competitiveness and productivity of the State-Owned Enterprises” in Namibia, so as to reduce the current status quo prevalent at some of the SOEs.It is worthy to note the fact that not all the SOEs are bleeding Government resources.There are, in fact, some SOEs, which are doing very well.For Mr Kaaronda to expect the CGA or Government to operate in the absence of the necessary legal instruments and authority is to demand the CGA and/or Government to operate in a state of illegality and chaos, which may beg for consequential record high litigations against the CGA and/or Government.Worse still, the CGA and/or Government cannot operate in the absence of a formal comprehensive policy for the restructuring of SOEs, and the SOEGC Secretariat can not carry out the daily managerial tasks, responsibilities and practice of the SOEGC.The passing into law of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006 is a step in the right direction, whilst the CGA holds the technical capacity and proficiency to get the corporate governance technical work done.The CGA has been prudent in handling the funds it has received from the Government.Due to the fact that the Act was not passed and consequently, full work was not at full swing, since the 2003/04 financial year-end to date, there has been millions of Namibia dollars saved by the CGA.Even during this financial year, there will still be more savings realised.The CGA has carried out some noteworthy assistance to many SOEs, as per requests by these SOEs through the SOEGC Chairperson.We invite Mr Kaaronda to visit our offices to view the excellent technical assistance the CGA rendered, thus far, to many SOEs.This will perhaps help Mr Kaaronda to tell his trade union colleagues the truth and nothing but the truth.We trust that next time around Mr Kaaronda will take time to cross-check and duly research information before uttering such unjustified allegations.In the final instance, when one reflects on the current labour relations in the country, it begs for bold, courageous, focused, dynamic, robust, tactful and skilful leadership to promote a prudent, productive, knowledgeable, safe and competitive labour force, attuned to twenty-first century labour dynamics.We trust that Mr Kaaronda will do his part to fight in the best interest of the broad majority of his constituents, who have elected him and who work in such a diverse environment such as on farms, in manufacturing, fishing and State-Owned Enterprises, to mention but a few.Consequently, with respect to SOEs, we wish Mr.Kaaronda to encourage the labour force to be competitive, diligent and productive in the line of duty in their respective labour places.When Mr Kaaronda has lived up to and fulfilled the honourable responsibility of being true to his constituents, then we can have a truly vibrant and growth-led economy in Namibia, where the plight of the indigent is reduced to a bare minimum.May God bless us all, may God bless Namibia! As courtesy, we have circulated this letter for printing in the print media, in which your speech was covered to avail the public also the opportunity to hear CGA’s side.Yours in good corporate governance, Lazarus S Uaandja Executive Director CGAIn the said article, The Namibian quoted Mr Kaaronda as having said, inter alia, that: “Government has pumped millions into the Central Governance Agency, but what have they achieved so far? Things are as bad as it was even before that Agency came into being”.Before delving into the specific charges of Mr Kaaronda against the CGA, we would like to provide a background of what the CGA has been doing since May 2003 to date, when CGA commenced with its operations.Unlike other governmental institutions, which start their operations, whilst having their legal mandates in place, from inception, the CGA was tasked with the finalisation of “both the legal instruments and a comprehensive policy for the restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), as well as the establishment of CGA”.In a nutshell, there was no Act in place instituting the SOEGC or the CGA.The CGA, together with the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Council (SOEGC), started to piece together information, which formed the foundation of the relevant legislation, and culminated in the passing into law of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006 (Act No.2 of 2006), which Act was recently assented to by the President of the Republic of Namibia and published in the Government Gazette No.3698, on September 14, 2006.Yes, we do agree that it took some time to have the said Act passed into law, but in a democratic governance system, where consultation and consensus are paramount prerequisites, it was absolutely necessary that all the relevant stakeholders, including, but not limited to the trade unions, were consulted.Furthermore, in terms of section 50 of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006, the Commencement Date still needs
to be determined by the President of Namibia, before the Act will become in force and operational.However, we are reliably informed that the Office of the Attorney General is busy preparing the Proclamation for the Commencement Date of the said Act, which Proclamation then needs to be signed by both the Attorney-General and thereafter, the Head of State.Only once the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006 is in force and operational will the SOEGC and its Secretariat be legally empowered to take up the mandate of promoting “the efficiency, transparency, competitiveness and productivity of the State-Owned Enterprises” in Namibia, so as to reduce the current status quo prevalent at some of the SOEs.It is worthy to note the fact that not all the SOEs are bleeding Government resources.There are, in fact, some SOEs, which are doing very well.For Mr Kaaronda to expect the CGA or Government to operate in the absence of the necessary legal instruments and authority is to demand the CGA and/or Government to operate in a state of illegality and chaos, which may beg for consequential record high litigations against the CGA and/or Government.Worse still, the CGA and/or Government cannot operate in the absence of a formal comprehensive policy for the restructuring of SOEs, and the SOEGC Secretariat can not carry out the daily managerial tasks, responsibilities and practice of the SOEGC.The passing into law of the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act, 2006 is a step in the right direction, whilst the CGA holds the technical capacity and proficiency to get the corporate governance technical work done.The CGA has been prudent in handling the funds it has received from the Government.Due to the fact that the Act was not passed and consequently, full work was not at full swing, since the 2003/04 financial year-end to date, there has been millions of Namibia dollars saved by the CGA.Even during this financial year, there will still be more savings realised.The CGA has carried out some noteworthy assistance to many SOEs, as per requests by these SOEs through the SOEGC Chairperson.We invite Mr Kaaronda to visit our offices to view the excellent technical assistance the CGA rendered, thus far, to many SOEs.This will perhaps help Mr Kaaronda to tell his trade union colleagues the truth and nothing but the truth.We trust that next time around Mr Kaaronda will take time to cross-check and duly research information before uttering such unjustified allegations.In the final instance, when one reflects on the current labour relations in the country, it begs for bold, courageous, focused, dynamic, robust, tactful and skilful leadership to promote a prudent, productive, knowledgeable, safe and competitive labour force, attuned to twenty-first century labour dynamics.We trust that Mr Kaaronda will do his part to fight in the best interest of the broad majority of his constituents, who have elected him and who work in such a diverse environment such as on farms, in manufacturing, fishing and State-Owned Enterprises, to mention but a few.Consequently, with respect to SOEs, we wish Mr.Kaaronda to encourage the labour force to be competitive, diligent and productive in the line of duty in their respective labour places.When Mr Kaaronda has lived up to and fulfilled the honourable responsibility of being true to his constituents, then we can have a truly vibrant and growth-led economy in Namibia, where the plight of the indigent is reduced to a bare minimum.May God bless us all, may God bless Namibia! As courtesy, we have circulated this letter for printing in the print media, in which your speech was covered to avail the public also the opportunity to hear CGA’s side.Yours in good corporate governance, Lazarus S Uaandja Executive Director CGA