‘NAB hijacked AMTA’s levies’
The Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB) acted without the agriculture minister’s blessings when it started collecting levies on controlled agronomic products, a role that was reserved for the Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA).
This is contained in successive audit reports by auditor general (AG) Junias Kandjeke on the books of NAB. In both the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years, Kandjeke gave the board adverse audit opinions.
“The board terminated the service of its agent (AMTA) at year-end without the minister’s approval.
This is in contravention of Section 1 (1) (g) of the Agronomic Industry Act,” Kandjeke said. The NAB, however, contradicts Kandjeke, saying there is nothing wrong with its decision.
“According to Section 10 (1) (g), the minister needs to approve the conditions of the agency and not its appointment.
Further to it, the NAB board came to a resolution to terminate AMTA [services] and notices were placed in the newspapers, thus the NAB implementation of regulatory functions commenced on 1 April 2020. A final meeting to agree [to] such implementation was chaired by [the minister] on 20 May 2020.”
In 2020, revenue amounting to N$8.4 million could not be confirmed due to outstanding documents.
In its response to the auditors, the NAB management said: “The Namibian Agronomic Board is requesting for an extension to locate the outstanding invoices as are busy engaging with AMTA on the matter since the collected levies on behalf of NAB during the period under review.”
The two government entities have been at loggerheads in recent years. Sources familiar with the strained relationship say NAB decided to terminate its contract with AMTA after the latter was seen as an “employment agency”, where its management unilaterally collected fat pay cheques at the expense of the former. According to reports, AMTA’s managing director Lungameni Lucas is overpaid at N$3.1 million, a direct contravention of public enterprise regulations. The regulation states that managing directors should not earn more than N$1.3 million.
Meanwhile, senior managers should not earn more than N$1 million, but they do at AMTA, local media reported.
Without collecting levies, AMTA’s revenue streams are extremely limited. This is the artery NAB cut completely by unilaterally absorbing a role it previously outsourced, insiders say. The two public enterprises appear to have overlapping functions.
For instance, NAB exists “to promote the agronomic industry and to facilitate the production, processing, storage and marketing of controlled products in Namibia.”