Namibia: Ndeitunga ambushed by Palazzolo

Inspector-General of the Namibian Police Lieutenant-General Sebastian Ndeitunga has warned local businesspeople against ambushing national leaders in their offices with foreign investors who turn out to be fugitives. Ndeitunga was referring to an ambush he experienced two years ago when he agreed to receive the son of the Founding President Sam Nujoma Sacky Nujoma, and to his surprise, Vito Palazzolo came along for an introduction.

“Sometimes those of us in these offices just get a call and somebody just tells you I’m coming to see you. You see no harm in it until this person arrives with some or other investor you know nothing about,” he said.

He said he frowned on the habit of Namibians to just take people on as business partners without having scrutinised their background, and then just made appointments for them left right and centre.

“You parade this person from one office to another not knowing that this person is looking to enrich his CV, because when he goes to discuss business with someone else he will say I have seen General Ndeitunga and minister so and so, even when their background is not clean.”

According to Ndeitunga, one only realises later who this person really is and what they are all about.

He stressed that Namibians needed to be more security conscious when dealing with these investors who come to Namibia.

He noted that verbal appointments were problematic, because if people requested the appointment in writing one could at least look at who would be coming and scrutinise the list of people beforehand.

The head of the Namibian Police further remarked that in his view, when investors come to venture into any business in Namibia they should do so through the appropriate structure of Government, namely the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Alternatively, they should go through the Ministry of Home Affairs to obtain the different documentation that they might need.

He found it deplorable that a trend had emerged where those who come under the umbrella of wanting to invest in Namibia, befriended local business personalities and used them to secure appointments with higher offices in Government.

“We have no problem with the genuine ones. In fact, in most cases, we will just hear that these wanted people residing in Namibia have visited so and so, or they have made a donation here and there,” he said.

He continued to remark that the investors started splashing money around and only much later did one hear that a clinic or an office was built with the money of these kinds of people.

Namibians therefore needed to be more cautious, as much as they might be desperate, and it appeared as though some people did not understand the objective of security measures.