Inkumbi appointment above board, GIPF insists
• Board of trustees cites confidentiality
Despite the fact that the incoming CEO's appointment was known of more than a year before interviews were held, the fund insists the process was beyond reproach.
The Government Institution Pension Fund (GIPF) board of trustees this week maintained that the appointment of Martin Inkumbi as the fund’s CEO towards the end of last year was above board, despite indications from as early as August 2022 that the former banking executive was earmarked for the job.
The official announcement was made on 29 December 2023, over a year after Namibian Sun reported that the former Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) boss was in line to take over as head of the pension fund.
On 18 August 2022, Namibian Sun tweeted: “The board of the [DBN] has announced that Martin Inkumbi, its CEO, will step down from his role in August 2023. Namibian Sun is reliably informed Inkumbi will take over as CEO of GIPF, whose boss, David Nuuyoma, is heading into retirement”.
Nuuyoma left GIPF in July 2023 and Inkumbi took over as head of the fund on 15 January 2024.
With the appointment finally confirmed, the transparency of the process - which saw several other candidates being interviewed for the job - has been questioned. Namibian Sun asked the GIPF board of trustees whether it was a mere coincidence that the anticipated appointment came to pass more than a year after it was reported.
Aspersions have also been cast on the fairness of the recruitment process, amid suggestions that the preferred candidate might have been known all along, and that this recruitment was only window dressing for a pre-arranged outcome.
Conflicted
GIPF executives Elvis Nashilongo and Melkizedek Uupindi were shortlisted for the job, as was Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) deputy CEO Erna Motinga. Other candidates shortlisted include Roads Contractor Company (RCC) acting CEO Maria Nakale, and Nedbank executive Tjivingurura Mbuende.
Some of the candidates Namibian Sun spoke to said they felt conflicted to comment on the matter.
“Whatever I say would just sound like I am bitter about not being appointed. We read in the media more than a year before the post was advertised that there was already a candidate preferred for the job, and it came out exactly that way. That would be a strange coincidence,” one of them, who preferred anonymity, said.
Confidentiality
In an irate response to Namibian Sun, GIPF board of trustees chairperson Penda Ithindi said the process was above board, but hastened to highlight the ‘confidentiality’ with which it was carried out.
“The GIPF vehemently refutes the unfounded and persistent aspersions and narrative of Namibian Sun on the selection and recruitment process of the CEO of the fund and its outcome,” he said.
“The fund, having successfully appointed Mr Inkumbi, finds it trite to be drawn into commenting on a selection and recruitment process that was meant to be treated with the utmost professionalism and confidentiality as per the set selection and recruitment criteria,” he added.
According to Ithindi, Inkumbi’s appointment was unanimously supported by the recruitment committee handling the process.
“Let it be put to rest that Mr Inkumbi was unanimously recommended as the best candidate in line with the objective assessment and selection criteria,” Ithindi said.
“The board of trustees has every confidence in the integrity of the verifiable selection process it undertook and the meritorious outcome it produced.”
The official announcement was made on 29 December 2023, over a year after Namibian Sun reported that the former Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) boss was in line to take over as head of the pension fund.
On 18 August 2022, Namibian Sun tweeted: “The board of the [DBN] has announced that Martin Inkumbi, its CEO, will step down from his role in August 2023. Namibian Sun is reliably informed Inkumbi will take over as CEO of GIPF, whose boss, David Nuuyoma, is heading into retirement”.
Nuuyoma left GIPF in July 2023 and Inkumbi took over as head of the fund on 15 January 2024.
With the appointment finally confirmed, the transparency of the process - which saw several other candidates being interviewed for the job - has been questioned. Namibian Sun asked the GIPF board of trustees whether it was a mere coincidence that the anticipated appointment came to pass more than a year after it was reported.
Aspersions have also been cast on the fairness of the recruitment process, amid suggestions that the preferred candidate might have been known all along, and that this recruitment was only window dressing for a pre-arranged outcome.
Conflicted
GIPF executives Elvis Nashilongo and Melkizedek Uupindi were shortlisted for the job, as was Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) deputy CEO Erna Motinga. Other candidates shortlisted include Roads Contractor Company (RCC) acting CEO Maria Nakale, and Nedbank executive Tjivingurura Mbuende.
Some of the candidates Namibian Sun spoke to said they felt conflicted to comment on the matter.
“Whatever I say would just sound like I am bitter about not being appointed. We read in the media more than a year before the post was advertised that there was already a candidate preferred for the job, and it came out exactly that way. That would be a strange coincidence,” one of them, who preferred anonymity, said.
Confidentiality
In an irate response to Namibian Sun, GIPF board of trustees chairperson Penda Ithindi said the process was above board, but hastened to highlight the ‘confidentiality’ with which it was carried out.
“The GIPF vehemently refutes the unfounded and persistent aspersions and narrative of Namibian Sun on the selection and recruitment process of the CEO of the fund and its outcome,” he said.
“The fund, having successfully appointed Mr Inkumbi, finds it trite to be drawn into commenting on a selection and recruitment process that was meant to be treated with the utmost professionalism and confidentiality as per the set selection and recruitment criteria,” he added.
According to Ithindi, Inkumbi’s appointment was unanimously supported by the recruitment committee handling the process.
“Let it be put to rest that Mr Inkumbi was unanimously recommended as the best candidate in line with the objective assessment and selection criteria,” Ithindi said.
“The board of trustees has every confidence in the integrity of the verifiable selection process it undertook and the meritorious outcome it produced.”
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