Fisheries Minister Bernard Esau.(Photo Credit: The Council of the European Union)
NAMIBIA
Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 02:30 (GMT + 9)
Namibia’s Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources says that "external forces" -- owners of vessels or factories and those who control the market -- are the reason why joint ventures in the fishing industry are not experiencing success.
"Those companies are causing problems in JVs [joint ventures]. They promise kickbacks or succession fees, telling them that if you bring the JV to my company, I will give you this much," minister Bernard Esau said.
Esau said he is aware that only a few companies are in disarray, such as the Hefdy Group of Companies and Oshana Marine Resources, and that the problems are either personal or entail organisational issues pertaining to subsidiaries.
This follows the Ministry of Fisheries’ move back in 2011, when it forced fishing companies to partake in joint ventures, supposedly in order to fit more people in the paradigm of fishing rights and quotas. Now, many of these ventures are fighting over allocations of shares, dividends and sales of fishing quotas, The Namibian reports.
But Esau insists that grouping the companies is the best strategy.
"Some people are very greedy, they just want money without making sure they create jobs. Those individuals need to be brought to book," he said.
He will meet with fishing industry stakeholders on 1 March to evaluate whether promises --such as employment creation and social responsibility programmes -- are being kept, as new entrants have complained of being "cheated."
While Esau said there are issues of corporate governance, which are regulated by the Companies Act and in which the ministry does not have jurisdiction, he does have the final say for approving a change of ownership in fishing companies.
Some companies involved in joint ventures are threatening to sue each other over disagreements on how the ventures are run, and others have threatened to pull out of them altogether. Fishing rights holders have also complained about having to pay "exorbitant" monthly stipends and board fees to their representatives on the joint ventures.
Further, the minister said he is waiting for a report from Etale Fishing, which is laying off 704 workers, so that the ministry can decide what to do.
"What we are briefed on is that the facilities -- factory and vessels -- were not properly taken care of in terms of maintenance and repair," he said.