Five days to the end of tenure of the state-owned fishing company’s interim board, Namibia’s Public enterprises minister Leon Jooste says a permanent board of directors for the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) will be announced before the end of September.
Jooste on Wednesday stated that “the recruitment process for the new board is almost concluded and they will be ready for an appointment before the end of September. We have therefore extended the term of the current board to avoid a governance vacuum.”
This is the third time the term of the interim board has been extended. At the moment, temporary board member Ruth Herunga remains the interim caretaker of Fishcor.
The extension is also to give the interim board time to recruit a substantive chief executive officer for the company, which has been hit by allegations of fraud and embezzlement in the Fishrot scandal about the misuse of Namibian Fishing quotas.
Herunga confirmed that the interim board is in the process of selecting candidates for the CEO position.
She said “I am not part of the process. I have been excluded because of my position.”
She however, confirmed that the nomination of general managers for finance and operations would be the responsibility of the incoming CEO.
The two positions were left vacant in April, after the then incumbents had resigned, following the resignation of Fishcor’s company secretary in March.
