Admin blunder delays Baynes report handover

The ombudsman's office has confirmed that a report based on its enquiry into the proposed Baynes hydropower project was never sent to the project's implementation unit.

"Due to an administrative oversight on the part of our office, the report was not previously sent to the Baynes Project Implementation Unit," the office said in a written response to Namibian Sun on Monday. "However, the report, accompanied by a formal letter of apology, was duly signed and delivered today, 17 August 2026."

A team from the ombudsman’s office conducted an enquiry on 9 and 10 April and the resulting report was signed off by ombudsman Basilius Dyakugha on 27 May.

The investigation was launched following a complaint lodged in April 2024 by the Ombuku-Kapika and Tjizapundu Traditional Authorities, EarthLife Namibia and International Rivers.

The team found that no environmental clearance certificate exists for the project, that consultations did not satisfy the Environmental Management Act, and that communities in the Epupa constituency are divided over the development.

The Baynes Binational Project Implementation Unit complained about that report the same day an article on its findings was published by Namibian Sun’s sister publication Erongo.

It said it had no knowledge of the report’s conclusions.

The Office of the Ombudsman said it stands by its findings.

"We do hereby confirm that our investigation revealed formal consultations have not taken place yet and that we stand by all recommendations stated in the report," the office said.

Findings dismissed

However, the Baynes project unit has rejected the findings.

"The bottom line remains, the ombudsman investigation team's conclusion on the issue of public consultations is misplaced and factually wrong and has no basis," project director Muyenga Muyenga told Erongo. "We have no further comment to make on that matter."

He said the project was proceeding unhindered and would continue to comply with the legislative requirements of both Angola and Namibia and with international guidelines.

"We are puzzled as to how the ombudsman investigators arrived at a determination that there were no public consultations or that the public consultations did not follow the required environmental legislation of Namibia," he told Erongo.

He said the project unit does not carry out environmental studies itself but procures international experts whose scope of work includes public consultations. The project presentation lists more than 30 engagements between 2009 and February 2024.

Project moves forward

The ombudsman's list of documents reviewed includes a 2014 impact assessment by Environmental Resources Management and Urban Dynamics. The report does not record that the investigators interviewed any of the consultancies.

Public consultations on the regulating dam began this week. Muyenga said the first phase started on 17 August at Opuwo and Okongwati, with a meeting at Epupa on 18 August and at Orokaue on 19 August.

He said SRK Consulting had been contracted to conduct the regulating dam assessment, which began in July.

Muyenga argued that the objection to the project originates in a local leadership dispute.

"The issue of contention is that the concerned group at Omuhonga want to draw us into politics and their chieftainship rivalry," he claimed.

The project unit says clearance for the main dam and the regulating dam will be submitted to the authorities of Angola and Namibia by the second quarter of 2027. The environment ministry confirmed this month that no application has been lodged. The project unit has also disclosed that an environmental clearance certificate was issued for the access roads to the dam site.