Kandjemuni Kamuiiri
THE City of Windhoek is compiling a shortlist of candidates for the vacant Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’s position.
Interestingly former CEO, Robert Kahimise, who quit the job to join the Central North Regional Electricity Distributor (CENORED), thereby creating the vacancy, has also reportedly been shortlisted.
Another aspiring returnee to municipality employment is former City Police Chief Abraham Kanime, who has a pending case in court for his return to his old job.
Ironically Kanime and Kahimise had an acrimonious relationship during their previous tenures at the council. Council Spokesperson, Harold Akwenye, informs the Windhoek Observer that the applications closed almost two months ago and interviews for the position are to take place between the end of this month and the beginning of next month.
“The application process closed about two months ago already, and the city is in the process of shortlisting candidates with interviews scheduled to take place between the end of this month and the beginning of next month,” Akwenye says.
The City has been without a substantive CEO since 31 October, 2020, after Kahimise l3 left for CENORED.
Akwenye refuses confirming or denying that Kahimise is in the running for his former job. He also refuses to reveal other candidates who have been shortlisted for the position.
“Windhoek Observer should be patient as the Mayor of the City of Windhoek, Job Amupanda, has pledged that the interviews for the position will be open to public,” Akwenye states.
He adds that the pledge by Amupanda is consistent with the demands he made for the Ombudsman to be held public as well.
The application of Kahimise is a major surprise as he faced troubled times at the CoW following a public bash with the city.
Contacted to confirm or deny whether he applied for his former position, Kahimise refused to comment.
“I have no comment on that, no comment,” he says.
According to sources, when Kahimise took up the top job at CENORED after a turbulent five years at the capital city’s municipality, he spoke about his time at the City, labelling the environment as “toxic”.
Kahimise allegedly left his job with the City when an investigation into his conduct was pending, for which a disciplinary hearing was opened on 12 October but was never presented to the council. The council management committee meanwhile appointed its Human Capital and Corporate Services Executive, George Mayumbelo, last November as the interim CEO till now.
