By Kakishi wa Kanantinda
RUNDU, Aug. 5 – Two former Kavango East governors, Samuel Mbambo and John Thighuru were used to acquire horse mackerel fishing quotas for Usakos based fishing company called Global Fishing Enterprise Pty Ltd before they were dumped without any benefits for the past three years.
This all started when the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine resources advertised fishing rights in 2018 and then Peter Roos (80), the Chief Executive Officer of Global Fishing Enterprise, a company based at a farm 10 km west of Usakos in the Erongo region, travelled to Kavango East to negotiate for a partnership to convince ministry of fisheries to award them fishing rights.
Roos’ first stop was at the governor of Kavango East Mbambo who also invited Thighuru and her daughter to the meeting.
Roos and Kavango region leaders were introduced to each other by a well-known fixer and businessman Clemens Tjitandi who even introduced Roos to Vice President Nangolo Mbumba.
Tjitandi was however also left out at the end like others as Roos and his children later took control of the company.
During the consultative meetings Roos issued share certificates of 5% to Mbambo who opted to be represented by his daughter, Thighuru 5%, Rundu businesswoman Maria Kampungu 5% and Tjitandi 5% and more shares and benefits were promised to Vashambyu Traditional Authority, disability groups and war veterans.
Global Fishing Enterprise was then awarded fishing quotas of 600 metric tonnes, equivalent to N$4 million a year since 2020, but none of the shareholders got dividends up to date as these all go to Roos and his family.
When Namibia Daily News contacted Roos for comment, he responded in short that he is in business not charity or church affairs.
“Go and ask those who told you the information, not me, I’m in business, not a charity or church affairs,” before hanging up his mobile phone.
During the visit of fisheries minister Derek Klazen to Kavango regions recently, the disgruntled group took the scam up with the minister with demands that Roos pay them their dividends since 2020 or the fisheries minister withdraw the 10-year fishing rights awarded to the company.
The minister could not be reached for comment as his mobile went unanswered – Namibia Daily News.
