The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) says it has actioned plans to construct a new head office, amid space constraints at its current offices.
The fund’s initial timelines to have completed the construction have been derailed after concerns were raised around the initial land that had been targeted for the planned construction.
“You see this space has become smaller. Actually, some of the colleagues had to move out even and are now housed at the NSFAF building. We couldn’t fit in the building anymore. It was agreed that we look at doing an investment of doing construction of a new head office, go out on tender, and see offerings. Those offerings are still under consideration. And we are engaging, so see which is most optimal,” outgoing GIPF Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer, David Nuyoma told The Brief.
Quizzed on the implementation timelines, Nuyoma said, “We were hoping that by now to have been done, but then it didn’t play out. We discovered that the land that was being offered had too many issues. It was not far from where we were. The hunt continues and we are engaging. We have narrowed it down.”
Nuyoma said the fund was targeting to have the planned structure in a central location to allow easy reach for its members.
“We are engaging to see whether we cannot get a fairly good piece of land somewhere and it has to be more or less in the radius of reach by most of our members. So it must be somewhere central. Hopefully, we can find good land,” he said.
Regarding his retirement, the GIPF boss said he leaves the fund in a good position.
“My heart is at peace and I think we have reached a certain level where we are operationally mature as an institution. Our processes I think have become firmer. And I’m going out with all confidence that what we have now, it’s a good build on those earlier pioneers of the fund. And I can only see this fund going even into greater heights,” he said.
“The team that is there is gaining experience daily and I’m very confident that yes, GIPF is in a good space. And it’s a huge asset to the country, don’t underestimate it. The assets are massive. It’s almost as big as the GDP of the country and it’s growing.”
He said the autonomy that the fund has, has contributed to its growth.
“Let’s keep that autonomy that GIPF has. I meant it when I went to see His Excellency, the President, that one of the successes of GIPF has been the autonomous space given to GIPF to operate. Because I’m saying this with full knowledge of what happens elsewhere. There is too much interference. Not only in Africa but globally. And what happened to those funds? They were just as good as GIPF at one point,” Nuyoma said.
GIPF is a statutory pension fund that provides guaranteed pension and related benefits to 98,623 civil servants and employees of participating employers in Namibia.
