Staff Reporter
Documents provided by the Central Procurement Board of Namibia have revealed that the Governor of the Bank of Namibia is an investor in the Allegrow fund, a company that holds 35% of the ordinary share capital in Fabupharm, which was awarded a tender to supply 27 pharmaceutical items valued at N$184 million for a period of two years.
The document provided by the procurement board outlined the ownership structure of the Allegrow fund, showing that the Government Institutions Retirement Fund (GIPF) invested about 65.07%, while Johannes !Gawaxab invested 0.80%, alongside other entities, which are mostly retirement funds.
According to information provided by the procurement board, the Board appointed a Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) on 30th June 2022 to evaluate the bid in question, in terms of sections 9(1)(i) and 26 of the Public Procurement Act. On 24th November 2022, the BEC submitted its first report to the Board for adjudication with a recommendation that the bid be cancelled, as the BEC could not establish the beneficial owners of one of the shareholding companies of Fabupharm (PTY) Ltd, by the name of Allegrow Fund (PTY) Ltd, as required in the Instruction to Bidders (ITB) 10.1.
The Board adjudicated on this matter and rejected the BEC recommendation, instead directing the BEC to establish the beneficial ownership from the bidder. As per the Board Resolution CPBN-05/36/2022, the BEC indeed carried out the instruction of the Board, and the beneficial ownership of Allegrow was established. Johanna Kambala, spokesperson of the Procurement Board, said that the documents outlining the beneficial ownership of Allegrow fund were handed into the Central Procurement Board sometime after November 2022, almost a year into the appointment of !Gawaxab, who was appointed as governor of the Bank of Namibia in December 2021.
!Gawaxab, as part of being the head of the Bank of Namibia, was required to relinquish his stakes in businesses to avoid conflict and bias, given the influential role of the central bank.
Allegrow is a N$461 million SME growth and operational development fund that invests in companies with the potential to grow rapidly and provides them with the capital and management support needed to unlock their full potential.
