By Kaundjire Humbu
MINES and energy minister Modestus Amutse has rejected Nampower’s board’s request to lower the requirements for the appointment of a substantive managing director (MD), amid a protracted recruitment process that has so far failed to produce enough qualifying candidates.
Speaking to Confidente, Amutse said he had not approved any relaxation of the qualifications for the strategic position and maintained that the original requirements should remain in place.
The minister’s comments come as Nampower continues with a fresh recruitment process after the first round only attracted one candidate who met the requirements for the position.
Amutse added that the delay in appointing a substantive MD was largely linked to the number of candidates who qualified during the first recruitment process.
“The first advertisement did not attract enough qualified candidates for them to be able to start with the interviewing process,” Amutse said.
He said Nampower had subsequently considered broadening the pool of applicants, but rejected any suggestion that the requirements could simply be lowered to make it easier to fill the position.
“With regards to whether the lowering of requirements for the position, I am not aware of that aspect,” he said.
“All I know is that we had discussions with them (Nampower board) today (Wednesday). But then… what I was informed by Nampower is that they have not been able to attract enough candidates and they were considering lowering the requirements in order to broaden participation, but which request I did not approve.”
Amutse explained that he had not sanctioned an advertisement carrying lower requirements than those contained in the original recruitment process.
“I do not believe that they will advertise or place an advertisement with lower requirements because that is not what we have agreed on.
They will still stick to the original requirements. This was set in the first advertisement.”
The issue has emerged as Nampower faces the impending departure of its current managing director, Simson Haulofu, whose term is due to end later this year.
The first recruitment exercise attracted a limited pool of applicants, resulting in Nampower reopening the process in an effort to reach a wider pool of potential candidates.
However, the process has raised questions about whether the original requirements are too restrictive for the available pool of candidates and whether relaxing them would undermine the standard expected for the head of one of the country’s most strategically important state-owned enterprises.
Amutse pushed back against that argument, saying that lowering the requirements for a senior position at an institution such as Nampower would not necessarily be in the country’s best interests.
“I am not sure whether in your view lowering the requirements to a bachelor’s degree would be the best for the country,” he added.
“But I know with other institutions of the same calibre, or a little bit lower, the requirements are higher than the bachelor’s degree.”
He added: “So, I regard lowering those requirements for a strategic institution such as Nampower not to be in the best interest of the institution.”
The minister’s position effectively leaves the recruitment process tied to the original qualification requirements, despite the difficulty encountered in attracting sufficient qualifying candidates.
The requirements for the position are understood to have been designed to ensure that the successful candidate possesses both advanced academic qualifications and extensive experience in the energy sector, including executive-level management experience.
The recruitment process has already gone through more than one stage and this prompted the utility to reconsider how the recruitment could be broadened without compromising the standard required for the position.
Amutse, however, stressed that the decision to proceed with the recruitment process remained with the Nampower board within the applicable governance framework and that no decision had yet been made to appoint a single candidate simply because that person was the only one who qualified from the initial process.
Asked whether the candidate who emerged as the only qualifying applicant from the first round would automatically proceed to a full recruitment process if no additional candidate emerged, Amutse said this was not the case.
“That is not what I am saying, and it is not what the Nampower is saying.”
He said the board would have to continue engaging with the recruitment process before a final decision could be reached.
“It will engage in the process and see what is workable. Then what is workable is what will inform the ministry.”
Amutse added: “For now, there is no decision that they are recruiting straight forward to one candidate, or they will not. That decision is still to be made by the board.”
The minister maintained that the government would therefore allow Nampower an opportunity to continue with the recruitment process before making further interventions.
He added that recruitment involves several stages and that he would wait for further information from the utility before determining what action, if any, would be necessary.
Amutse said he was aware that Nampower had experienced difficulty attracting sufficient qualifying applicants, but maintained that any solution had to remain within the agreed requirements and governance process.
Industry experts argue that the dispute over the requirements comes against the broader challenge of securing suitably qualified leadership for strategic state-owned enterprises, particularly institutions operating in technically demanding sectors such as electricity generation, transmission and energy security.
Senior sources within Nampower told Confidente that, the appointment carries additional significance as the country seeks to strengthen domestic electricity generation, expand transmission infrastructure and reduce exposure to regional power supply constraints.
Nampower board chairperson, Clive Kavendjii said he was out of the country and could not comment as he was not part of the meeting that between the board and Amutse.
He refered questions to his deputy Paulina Elago who kept the information close to her chest noted that it is “confidential”.
Haulofu was appointed in 2015 after he replaced Paulinus Shilamba. Shilamba was appointed as MD of NamPower in 2006. Shilamba had replaced Leake Hangala who had been MD for over 10 years.
