Haufiku: I was a consultant for Chinese, not a middleman
Former health minister Bernard Haufiku has defended his 2024 consultancy role with a Chinese pharmaceutical company, insisting the arrangement was legitimate and cannot be likened to the exploi-tative middlemen he once criticised for inflating government medical tenders.
Haufiku has faced backlash after 2024 correspondence surfaced, revealing that he had acted on behalf of Jiangsu Aidea Pharma, a company seeking entry into the Namibian pharmaceutical market. This has prompted accusations of hypocrisy, given his past condemnation of tender intermediaries profiting from the health ministry - an institution he previously led.
He had previously warned that government-paid prices for medical supplies were at times inflated by as much as 300%, blaming corrupt intermediaries embedded in the procurement process.
However, a letter dated 13 April 2024, signed by Haufiku and addressed to then-health executive di-rector Ben Nangombe, appears to place him in a similar intermediary role. In the letter - written on be-half of Africa Life Holdings and Jiangsu Aidea Pharma - Haufiku requested a meeting to introduce the company’s interests in Namibia. The audience was subsequently granted.
'Consultant, not a middleman'
Responding to criticism, Haufiku last week told Namibian Sun that he draws a clear distinction be-tween legitimate consultancy work and the unethical practices he has long condemned.
“There is a difference between doing professional consultancy business for a company, organisation, and even a state or government, and a person or persons who embed themselves within a tender plat-form and extract as much monetary value out of the deal as possible,” he said.
“That’s one thing I did for Jiangsu Aidea Pharma in Africa and some parts of Europe such as Switzerland and Germany. And this was based on a 12-month contract,” he added.
“If that’s what you or they call a middleman, then I am at a loss. Then we least call me a middleman, and those who carry briefcases, embed themselves in between tenders or deals, and extract huge per-sonal monetary benefits from inflated tenders, without any value creation or genuine value additions, then become professional consultants or maybe entrepreneurs.”
Pharma's African ambitions
Haufiku said his engagement with Jiangsu Aidea Pharma was guided by three key objectives aligned with the company’s strategic goals in Africa.
“One, registration of their HIV medicines in Africa, including Namibia, for which they are, regrettably, still waiting as the process of registration is apparently still ongoing.”
“Two, consideration for setting up a research team on HIV in Africa, with Namibia as a possible desti-nation or potential hub; and lastly, consideration for setting up a medicine manufacturing facility in Af-rica, with Namibia as its hub. They have just decided to set up in Nigeria. So, let us leave it up to the public to make their own judgment,” Haufiku said. - [email protected]
Haufiku has faced backlash after 2024 correspondence surfaced, revealing that he had acted on behalf of Jiangsu Aidea Pharma, a company seeking entry into the Namibian pharmaceutical market. This has prompted accusations of hypocrisy, given his past condemnation of tender intermediaries profiting from the health ministry - an institution he previously led.
He had previously warned that government-paid prices for medical supplies were at times inflated by as much as 300%, blaming corrupt intermediaries embedded in the procurement process.
However, a letter dated 13 April 2024, signed by Haufiku and addressed to then-health executive di-rector Ben Nangombe, appears to place him in a similar intermediary role. In the letter - written on be-half of Africa Life Holdings and Jiangsu Aidea Pharma - Haufiku requested a meeting to introduce the company’s interests in Namibia. The audience was subsequently granted.
'Consultant, not a middleman'
Responding to criticism, Haufiku last week told Namibian Sun that he draws a clear distinction be-tween legitimate consultancy work and the unethical practices he has long condemned.
“There is a difference between doing professional consultancy business for a company, organisation, and even a state or government, and a person or persons who embed themselves within a tender plat-form and extract as much monetary value out of the deal as possible,” he said.
“That’s one thing I did for Jiangsu Aidea Pharma in Africa and some parts of Europe such as Switzerland and Germany. And this was based on a 12-month contract,” he added.
“If that’s what you or they call a middleman, then I am at a loss. Then we least call me a middleman, and those who carry briefcases, embed themselves in between tenders or deals, and extract huge per-sonal monetary benefits from inflated tenders, without any value creation or genuine value additions, then become professional consultants or maybe entrepreneurs.”
Pharma's African ambitions
Haufiku said his engagement with Jiangsu Aidea Pharma was guided by three key objectives aligned with the company’s strategic goals in Africa.
“One, registration of their HIV medicines in Africa, including Namibia, for which they are, regrettably, still waiting as the process of registration is apparently still ongoing.”
“Two, consideration for setting up a research team on HIV in Africa, with Namibia as a possible desti-nation or potential hub; and lastly, consideration for setting up a medicine manufacturing facility in Af-rica, with Namibia as its hub. They have just decided to set up in Nigeria. So, let us leave it up to the public to make their own judgment,” Haufiku said. - [email protected]
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