Former ministers jumped ship to cash in

JEMIMA BEUKES

WINDHOEK

Former ministers Alpheus! Naruseb and Stanley Simataa tendered their resignations from parliament last week in a move to cash in on bigger pension payouts, Namibian Sun can reveal.

Information at hand shows the two opted to resign to tap into a loophole that would allow them bigger payouts if they resigned before or on 21 March, when they were technically still ministers. They both resigned before the cut-off date.

Following their sudden resignations, speculation was rife that they quit out of spite because President Hage Geingob did not include them in his new Cabinet.

However, sources close to the ministers confirmed that their move was motivated by economic reasons.

Private

When contacted for comment, !Naruseb said he is a very private person and is not ready to share his reasons for resigning.

“I am not ready to talk about it… I have run my race. Benefits are not an area I want to venture into. My tenure ended on 21 March,” he said.

Simataa also declined to comment, saying: “I have put this behind me”.

According to a source within the National Assembly, Simataa said in his resignation letter that he had to make this decision to safeguard his pension as minister.

“He said he made the decision to resign from the National Assembly after a conversation with a pension fund to determine how his pension payout would be affected,” the source said.

Selby Sibeya, the CEO of Kuleni Fund Administrators, which manages the parliamentary pension fund, did not respond to questions yesterday regarding the ministers.

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