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Public Enterprises Minister Leon Jooste said tighter regulation on the appointment of parapublic councils would ensure the success of the reform of public entities.
"Identifying and naming the best possible members of these boards is probably the most important thing to do. After appointing people with skills, experience and integrity, we must be able to hold them accountable for protecting the interests of the state, "Jooste told The Namibian newspaper. last week.
He reiterated the comments he had made during a parliamentary session last week, while he was responding to MPs' contributions on the draft law on the governance of public enterprises, which was tabled recently.
The minister said that he was "simply delighted to find extremely positive responses from all members," and that no MP had made any negative remarks about the content of the draft bill. law. He said it was despite previous reports in the media that several government ministers had questioned the bill and criticized it because it would give the minister too much power to oversee more of the bill. 18 strategic entities.
"This clearly shows that there is a collective understanding and desire to see the reform of Namibian state-owned enterprises become a reality," Jooste said.
In his response to parliamentarians, the minister focused on how the parapublic boards would be recruited, rewarded and also held accountable.
The minister, who will be responsible for about 20 strategic entities, has announced that an active performance management process, consistent with the integrated strategic business plan and including governance objectives. company, would be set up to evaluate the performance of the board of directors and the executive.
"If a board fails to achieve corporate governance goals, that board can be removed from office," he said.
Jooste added that a new transparent system of selection and appointment of parapublic council members would be put in place next year.
He pointed out that the selection of the new boards of Air Namibia and TransNamib already followed the new guidelines set out in the draft law, such as publicity in the media for members of the public to apply, the selection of nominating committee members and conducting interviews. by experts from the sector concerned.
He noted that, each company being different from the other, the size, composition and skills required for each board would be handled on a case by case basis. He also addressed the issue of conflict of interest by stating that each member of the board is required to declare his interests and that, if it is impossible to manage a conflict, the director would be asked to leave his position.
On liability, the minister said the bill contained legal provisions allowing board members to be held personally liable "for any form of insane business or maladministration".
"I repeat that the transformation of the Namibian economy will not be possible without the successful reform of our public enterprises," said the minister in his statement last week.
He further stated that the bill would strengthen the governance infrastructure so that the state could be transformed into an active professional shareholder with the skills required to represent the nation as the guardian of the entities of the country. ;State.
He therefore called on interested Namibians to send their CVs to the Ministry of Public Enterprises to include in a database that the Ministry could use when selecting board members.
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