NIP's emotional intelligence training under scrutiny

The Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) has approved a year-long staff training programme focused on, among others, emotional intelligence by FranklinCovey Namibia, the Windhoek-based franchise of the US-headquartered global leadership and organisational performance company, at an estimated cost of N$1.2 million.

The programme involves training 120 NIP employees at N$10 000 per participant, bringing the total estimated cost to N$1.2 million.

FranklinCovey provides corporate training in leadership development, workplace culture, productivity and customer service. Its Namibian operation is headed by Natasha Williams-Phatela, who is listed as its principal.

Information provided to Namibian Sun indicates that the training is expected to run for a year, with employees undergoing the programme in phases. Thirty employees are undergoing training this week.

Government sources familiar with the arrangement, however, have raised questions over who authorised the procurement and whether the required processes were followed before the latest training sessions commenced.

Namibian Sun learned that NIP is responsible for providing, among other things, the venue, catering and training materials.

“What is so strange about this agreement is that all costs are on the parastatal. NIP is paying for the catering services, NIP is printing all the training materials, NIP is providing the venue and refreshments,” a source said.

“This potentially places additional costs on NIP beyond the estimated N$1.2 million training fee, although the total expenditure could not immediately be established," the source added.

Williams-Phatela did not respond to questions sent to her by Namibian Sun on Tuesday. Numerous calls to her also went unanswered.

Paperwork in order

NIP said FranklinCovey Namibia was appointed in 2023 through an open national bidding process that was conducted in line with the Public Procurement Act.

“Yes, we confirm the appointment," acting chief executive officer Vincent Nowaseb said. He said the company was appointed "to provide customer excellence and emotional intelligence training as part of NIP’s organisation-wide culture transformation project".

NIP did not indicate whether a purchase order had been issued before the current training commenced or whether its finance department had withheld any payment.

Instead, the institute said the current training falls within the scope of its existing contract with FranklinCovey Namibia.

“This training programme falls squarely within the existing scope of NIP’s competitively procured contract with FranklinCovey Namibia," Nowaseb said.

"Once a service provider has been lawfully appointed through an open procurement process – as FCN was, in 2023 – a purchase order is an internal financial administration and budget-control instrument used to activate and record delivery under that existing contract,” he added.

He stressed that there was "no procurement irregularity in this matter, and any suggestion to the contrary conflates routine contract-administration processes with procurement compliance".

Future planning

NIP also defended its decision to provide the training venue and print the training materials itself, saying the arrangement was intended to contain costs.

“NIP deliberately opted to host the training on-site and print materials in-house as a cost-containment measure. This reduces total programme cost compared to using an external venue and third-party printing, and the choice was made for that reason,” Nowaseb said.

The programme comprises a four-day customised curriculum combining emotional intelligence and customer-excellence content aligned with NIP’s vision, mission and values, he added.

The programme also includes a training-of-trainers component, which he said would eventually enable NIP to conduct the training internally.

“Once the initial 120-employee cohort at the National Reference Laboratory is complete, NIP can roll the programme out organisation-wide using internal facilitators, avoiding recurring external training fees for future cohorts,” he said.

Established in 2000, NIP provides medical laboratory and pathology services to both the public and private healthcare sectors across Namibia.