Goeiemann accuses PM

THE move to discipline works permanent secretary Willem Goeiemann has opened a Pandora's box of information, including claims that there was political pressure to award the N$7 billion international airport contract.

People familiar with this matter said Goeiemann told close associates in recent weeks that he was instructed by politicians to award the contract in December 2015. The associates declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. Goeiemann is on the brink of losing the responsibility of managing his ministry's finances because he awarded the airport contract, which was later found to be unlawful by the Supreme Court. The Namibian is informed that several meetings were held at State House and the Office of the Prime Minister in 2015. Goeiemann declined to comment, but people close to him said the permanent secretary believes that he is being singled out for an act that he was instructed to execute by his political bosses. The Prime Minister appointed Goeiemann in June 2015, about eight years after the idea of upgrading the international airport had started. People close to this matter said Goeiemann briefed his works ministry colleagues that Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and finance minister Calle Schlettwein allegedly asked him to award the contract in 2015. Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and Schlettwein vehemently denied this. The Namibian sent detailed questions to Kuugongelwa-Amadhila on Monday. However, in a move seemingly aimed at pre-empting The Namibian's report, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) issued a media statement around Monday midnight, answering some questions while ignoring others. The statement said the allegations that the premier told Goeiemann to sign the airport contract “are baseless and devoid of any truth”. “The Prime Minister does not issue directives on the awarding of public contract tenders, and she has not, at any time, given instructions to award the contract for this project,” the statement said. This is not the first questionable mega-contract linked to the Prime Minister. The Namibian has since 2014 reported how Kuugongelwa-Amadhila applied extreme pressure on the Development Bank of Namibia's board of directors to fund the N$3,8 billion oil storage contract. The cost of that tender ballooned to N$5,5 billion.