Presidency mum on NDF tribalism probe

WINDHOEKELVIS MURARANGANDA

State House was yesterday tight-lipped about the report it received into the investigation of alleged tribalism in the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) and the Namibian Police, commissioned last year by President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Former justice minister Dr Ngarikutuke Tjiriange, who led the inquiry that also covered allegations of favouritism and nepotism in the two security apparatuses, confirmed that he submitted the report to the President “a long time ago”.
Tjiriange, now the special advisor to the minister of home affairs, was to be assisted by retired Police Lieutenant-General Raonga Andima, but the latter yesterday said he did not take part in the investigation.
Yesterday, presidential affairs minister Albert Kawana could not say anything about the status of the report and what Pohamba plans to do about the findings.
But while the presidency is yet to pronounce itself on the findings of the probe, a new wave of similar allegations has hit one of the NDF's key wings, the Namibian Air Force.
Some members of that wing are accusing senior management of maladministration, favouritism and tribalism in recruitment and promotions.
The allegations were vehemently denied by the wing, which threatened to charge whistleblowers if exposed.
One of the latest allegations is that the air force commander, Air Vice-Marshal Martin Pinehas, favours those from his tribe and village and has allegedly warned others not to go the media with any complaint.
A letter in possession of Namibian Sun details how Pinehas allegedly favoured a certain squadron leader, S.T Ntinda, to go on a United Nations mission.
“Ntinda joined the Namibian Air Force in 2010. Within just four months of him being here as a legal officer he went on a United Nations mission in Darfur, Sudan, as an air operations officer,” it read.
According to the author/s of the letter, this slot should have been given to a pilot, technician or air traffic controller.
“In the Namibian Air Force there are a lot of pilots/technicians/air traffic controllers that have been here since the establishment of the then Air Wing. This member [Ntinda] has no experience whatsoever in the aviation industry.”
Deputy Air Commander Colonel Paavo Kamanya said Ntinda was qualified to be part of the mission and was not sent because he is of the same tribe as Pinehas.
“When we send people on missions we do not look at whether they are black or white or green, we look at whether they meet the requirements to go on the mission,” said Kamanya.
“He [Ntinda] was not new to the army. He had been part of the army before he joined the Air Force. The decision was not made at the Air Force; it came from the NDF headquarters.”
On why no pilot, technician or air traffic controller was sent on the mission, Kamanya responded: “We do not send them on missions because there is no place for them and also we only have a limited number of them.”
He slammed the complaining air force members for wanting to go on these missions “simply for the money” and added that the allegations that they are sidelined on tribal grounds are “devoid of any truth”.
Another allegation is that the portfolio of the head of the legal office is currently vacant but neither of the two qualified prosecutors in that department has been appointed to that post, allegedly because they are not Pinehas's favourites.
Kamanya retorted: “The NDF has a legal office at the headquarters and that department has to appoint the right person into that portfolio and not the Air Force.”
It is further alleged that the air force commander has headman status at his village and is “campaigning at work with taxpayers' money to improve his village members' lifestyles and his status at the village”.
“This is not a civilian organisation. It is the military. There are channels for anyone to give their problems and they know they are not supposed to go to the media. That in itself is chargeable,” Kamanya responded.
He denied allegations that those members who report corruption through the military system would be intimidated, blacklisted and have no future in the NDF.