Govt assets agency legitimacy challenged

The government’s decision to establish the Public Assets Management Agency (Pama) as a profit-oriented entity before dedicated legislation governing public assets has been enacted has raised governance and legal concerns.

Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) shadow minister of works and transport Nelson Kalangula says while extracting commercial value from underused government properties may be sound in principle, the use of interim structures and administrative workarounds raises serious concerns.

“State properties belong to the public, and their management cannot be handed over to a commercially driven entity without full parliamentary scrutiny and explicit legislative boundaries,” Kalangula says.

He also criticises the appointment of temporary and interim boards at Pama and the Namibia Airports Company (NAC), saying short-term appointments could undermine corporate governance, institutional stability and board independence.

Kalangula says six-month interim boards could bypass principles and procedures under the Public Enterprises Governance Act, while making it difficult for boards to provide long-term strategic oversight.

He warns that politically controlled boards could compromise decisions relating to asset identification, valuation, leasing and procurement.

Kalangula calls on the government to halt the transfer of public properties to Pama until a proposed public assets management law has been debated and passed by parliament.

He also calls for permanent, competitively vetted and legally compliant boards for state-owned enterprises.

Public policy analyst Marius Kudumo echoes the concerns over the government’s move towards profit-making activities, questioning whether commercialisation could come at the expense of its responsibility to provide public services.

“The main function of governments is to render public services and not necessarily to engage in profit-making activities,” Kudumo says.

He questions whether poor and vulnerable Namibians would remain the focus if the government increasingly operated profit-oriented entities.

“It further invites questions about the ideological grounding of the government. Is it a business entity that competes in the space of the private sector with profit as the motive or there to serve the people?” he asks.

Works and transport minister Veikko Nekundi, however, defends Pama, saying it forms part of the government’s efforts to strengthen the management, utilisation and commercialisation of public assets.

In his address to the newly appointed Pama interim board and the temporary NAC board, Nekundi says the government owns a significant portfolio of immovable assets which, if properly managed, could contribute to economic activity, government revenue and national development.

He says Pama is being established as a commercial, profit-oriented public entity wholly owned by the government to manage non-public service delivery properties, improve their utilisation, generate revenue, reduce unnecessary expenditure and improve maintenance.

Nekundi says Pama is expected to create new revenue streams, promote investment, support economic activity and create employment and enterprise development opportunities.

Addressing concerns over the interim board, he says its immediate responsibility was to establish Pama’s governance and administrative frameworks, formulate policies and provide strategic direction during its formative period.

Nekundi acknowledges that the government intends to develop and enact a dedicated public assets management act to provide a comprehensive statutory framework for Pama.

He says the interim board would operate while Pama’s institutional, administrative and legislative foundations are being established.

Nekundi says commercialisation should not be understood as abandoning accountability, adding that the more commercially active Pama becomes, the greater the need for strong governance, financial controls, transparency and oversight.

He says the eventual identification and transfer of non-public service delivery properties to Pama would be undertaken by the Ministry of Works and Transport in consultation with the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and other government offices.

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