Africa-Press – Namibia. Paragon executive director Desmond Amunyela has denied suggestions that his company’s petroleum exploration licence renewal had anything to do with the firing of former minister of industries, mines and energy Natangwe Ithete.
Namibian Sun reported this week that Ithete violated a presidential moratorium on oil and gas deals by renewing an exploration petroleum licence (EPL) owned by Amunyela and businessman Lazarus Jacobs’ Paragon Holdings.
This, according to reports, led to president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah firing Ithete.
However, Amunyela, insisted that the licence renewal, initially granted in 2011, was above board and that the renewal process started in 2021.
“I cannot tell you what it is that the president has relied upon to act. It’s her prerogative. What I can tell you, however, is that I’m not new in this game.
“I have come a long way in this industry, since around 2011, and this licence is not new. It has been extended or renewed successively in the past using the same processes and procedures as we did this time.”
Nandi-Ndaitwah on Monday during a closed-door meeting with mines ministry staff appeared to suggest that she fired Ithete for violating the presidential moratorium on the renewal and awarding of new oil blocks.
Amunyela says he was not aware a moratorium was in place.
“I do not know of a moratorium, to be quite honest. If it was published, I have missed it. But remember, my renewal application started in 2021. So that’s how far back it is and according to how we understand the requirement of the law in terms of how you renew. We have been compliant since 2021.”
He says it has taken longer than usual to finalise the process due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“But this is not an application that started when the president became president. It was 2021, and the records are there,” he says.
While the president has thus far remained mum on her reasons for firing Ithete, she said on Monday no EPL should have been granted during the moratorium.
“I told the minister [Ithete] to let me understand. There should be no renewal, there should be no block giving unless we first consult one another. I do not know how the media got it, but it’s fine,” she said in a video.
“The daily newspaper said Ithete was dismissed over allegations of violating a presidential moratorium on oil deals and renewing an oil block licence without prior approval.
“That one I agree with,” she said.
The president yesterday appointed minister of defence and veterans affairs Frans Kapofi to oversee the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy in the interim.
Kapofi yesterday said he would acquaint himself with the ministry soon.
“I will not have an immediate priority, but I will get in there, and there are people who will brief me on the ongoing programmes, and I will inform myself on those,” he said.
During an interview with Desert Radio yesterday, former prime minister Nahas Angula said while the reasons for Ithete’s dismissal remain unclear, “whatever the former minister did must have been serious” given the urgency with which the president acted.
Presidential spokesperson Jonas Mbambo has told The Namibian “the reasons are known to him and to the president”.
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