Hertta-Maria Amutenja
Landless People’s Movement (LPM) Member of Parliament, Edison Isaacks said he will ask the Minister of Finance and Public Enterprise, Iipumbu Shiimi directly about the allegations of discrimination against certain ethnic groups during the recruitment process at Namibian Revenue Agency (NamRa).
Isaaks said this after NamRa responded to the allegation he made last week in the National Assembly where he alleged the agency has deliberately excluded certain ethnic groups in its recruitment process adding that former Inland Revenue Department and Directorate of Customs and Excise employees with qualifications and vast experiences have been omitted because they speak specific languages.
“I want the minister to respond to these specific questions in parliament because I do not want to respond to press statements that are dealing with nothing. We want facts from the minister and the only we will be looking at the way forward regarding this,” he said.
In response to the allegations, NamRa’s Commissioner Sam Shivute in an official statement rubbished the claims and said it has maintained a transparent recruitment process where all the positions are advertised internally or externally and shortlisted candidates are subjected to a competent interview process that determines the best candidates for positions, guided by their Recruitment, Selection and Induction Policy.
“For internal positions, the candidates are first subjected to an online interview test and those who perform well, qualify for oral interviews. It is worth noting that written tests are extended to all applicants, hence no person is excluded at this stage. The interview panels consist of between three and five members as per the policy for each interview,” said Shivute.
Isaks further alluded NamRa is trying to cover up the recruitment issues from people.
“There are complaints about this within NamRa and they are just trying to sweep it under the carpet. People have complained to me and that is why I have mentioned it in Parliament,” he added. Moreover, Shivute added that NamRa is committed to absorbing the seconded staff and if such is not realized, the agency will engage the Ministry of Finance for the deployment of the remaining staff in the public services. “To date, NamRa has appointed 1 045 staff, of which 867 or 82.9 percent are from seconded employees. Only 188 seconded staff have not been absorbed, while 30 seconded staff have declined employment offers for different reasons, predominantly because they found the remuneration packages offered to be less than their existing salaries or they were not willing to take up positions at other duty stations,” added Shivute.
