Renthia Kaimbi
The governor of the Bank of Namibia (BoN), Johannes !Gawaxab, is allegedly planning to step down from his role.
The Windhoek Observer understands that !Gawaxab informed vice president Lucia Witbooi and finance minister Ericah Shafudah that he intends to resign next month.
The Windhoek Observer has learnt that !Gawaxab signalled his departure in recent days, but the exact reason for his decision remains unknown.
He is set to resign a year before his contract ends.
!Gawaxab was appointed in 2020 by former late president Hage Geingob.
!Gawaxab was then reappointed in December 2021 for a second five-year term.
This extended his contract to December 2026.
His early exit would cut that term short and reopen debate about the circumstances that surrounded his appointment.
In 2020, Parliament passed the Bank of Namibia Act 1 of 2020, which changed the age limit for the position.
The amendment was widely viewed as a move that enabled !Gawaxab to take office despite the previous retirement age restriction.
However, the Presidency at the time dismissed media reports claiming that Geingob’s administration had changed the law in February 2020 to remove a clause preventing anyone over 65 from leading the central bank.
It said the appointment of !Gawaxab was not made under the revised Bank of Namibia Act, 2020, which was not yet in force at the time.
The Presidency also stated that the revision of the Act had started seven years prior, emphasising that Geingob played no role in this process and could not have influenced it to benefit an appointment made in April 2020.
The governor directly communicated his departure intention to Witbooi and Shafudah, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
However, at the time of publication, the Bank of Namibia’s Board of Directors had not received any official notification.
Senior figures inside the institution say they were caught off guard by news of the planned departure, which they believed should have been disclosed to the board before any other office.
The lack of formal communication has raised questions about governance procedures at the central bank.
The Windhoek Observer contacted the Bank of Namibia, the vice president’s office and the Ministry of Finance for comments.
None had responded by the time the article was published.
However, the Windhoek Observer understands that the Bank of Namibia is expected to issue a formal statement later today.
