Andrew Kathindi
The National Coordinator for the response to COVID-19, Dr Bernard Haufiku, has still not received his appointment letter, nearly two months after his assignment to the position.
Haufiku, who is the former Minister of Health, was appointed prior to Stage 1 of the national lockdown as the National Coordinator for the Covid-19 task force and emerged as the face of the response team, giving frequent updates on national statistics with regard to COVID-19.
However, it is believed that Haufiku’s candid approach to how government handles the response including admitting the slow testing pace, has increased his credibility among the public. But, his seeming critiques of the various state officials working on the issue were not well received by those in authority.
“Since a draft appointment letter with mandate of my appointment plus a draft term of reference has been forwarded to the Ministry of Health and Social Services, it never came back to me up to now. My various inquiries in this regard haven’t produced much result as I have been referred to the office of the Minister in the Presidency in this regard. But several calls to this office have not produced any positive results either,” Haufiku told Windhoek Observer.
This comes after Haufiku was fired as Minister of Health in 2018 and appointed as a special health advisor by “mutual accord” according to President Hage Geingob at the time. Haufiku went on the record with critical comments regarding the President’s interference in the operations of his then ministry.
“I have forgotten about the appointment letter as National Coordinator on COVID19 in Namibia as the country has managed to stem the tide of COVID19 in Namibia thus far. We continue to do all we can as a team to prevent further spread of the virus in any community in Namibia. So, I am driving the vehicle but not in possession of my driving license and this is not to say I haven’t passed the driving test,” he said.
Haufiku said that since he was announced by the President as National coordinator for COVID19 in Namibia, he has, together with the team at the Emergency Operation Center, invested a lot of time and effort in getting the response where it is today.
Executive Director in the ministry of health, Ben Nangombe said that Haufiku was the National Coordinator for COVID-19 and team leader as far as he was concerned.
He added however that his office was not in charge of appointment letters.
On why Haufiku had not received confirmation of his official appointment, Nangombe said “That is above my pay grade.”
Efforts to reach the Minister in the Presidency, Christine ||Hoebes, for comment proved fruitless as she was unavailable by the time of posting this article.
