Job throws his toys out the cot

Affirmative Repositioning movement activist Job Amupanda has accused finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi of not being receptive to his nomination to serve on the Financial Institutions Market Act’s (Fima) technical committee, which will deal with proposed pension fund regulation. Shiimi appointed a committee comprised of academics, lawyers and retirement fund experts last month to look at the Act, which is aimed at strengthening the mandate of the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa). Among the committee members are Lovisa Indongo-Namandje of Namfisa as chairperson, Erwin Naimhwaka of the Bank of Namibia, Justus Mwafongwe of the finance ministry, Vonkie Olivier of the University of Namibia and Mahongora Kavihuha and John Nakuta of the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (Tucna).Tucna pressured to remove AmupandaIn a scathing letter, Amupanda accused Shiimi of putting Tucna under pressure to withdraw his nomination.“It would seem that despite signing the 21 July letter, you were not at ease. It is as if you had a gun to your head. It is for this reason that you ostensibly went to involve yourself in futile mobilisation efforts, including calling Tucna leaders to change my nomination because you are under attack,” he wrote. “Understandably, Kavihuha is being pressured by stooges in contact with you and under your caprice.“To make it easy for you, to indeed allow you to breathe in order to achieve the objectives you are seeking with phone calls, I have resolved to withdraw myself from your technical committee.”Govt policies anti-poorContinuing his barrage against Shiimi, Amupanda said government’s policies fly in the face of uplifting the economic status of the poor. “I remain against the neoliberal epistemology that characterises the Namibian economic system in general and the financial system in particular. This outward developmental outlook that dwarfs the poor and privileges the economic elite remains central to the problems our country and people face.” According to Amupanda, it was the same ideological outlook that informed attempts by those behind Fima to steal from the poor, in the form of taking their pension, in order to account for the rising public debt that jumped from 30% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 60% of GDP on account of economic misdirection.We accept resignationWeighing in on Amupanda’s letter to Shiimi, Kavihuha said Tucna accepted his choice to withdraw from the technical committee. “As an organisation, we accept the withdrawal. It does not mean we cannot approach him or he cannot approach us. We need to use our academics to assist us.” Tucna will deliberate on the way forward regarding Amupanda’s replacement on the technical committee, he added. “We have not discussed who will we will replace him with. Mind you, we have not even received the detailed terms of reference yet. We will see where we take it from there,” he said.Shiimi did not respond to questions sent to him about Amupanda’s allegations.

Job throws his toys out the cot

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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Job throws his toys out the cot

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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