Namib Desert Diamonds (NAMDIA) has revealed that the diamond sales and marketing company was in the process of appointing a Chief Executive Officer following the expiry of founding CEO Kennedy Hamutenya’s term.
“Kindly note that NAMDIA followed a rigorous and intensive recruitment process for the Chief Executive Officer position with the assistance of a procured recruitment agency in line with the Public Procurement Act, 2015. NAMDIA is at an advanced stage of appointing a CEO and an official announcement will be made soon,” the company’s board said.
This ,however, comes amid reports that Hamutenya is challenging the company’s board decision not to renew his employment contract after 5 years at the helm of the diamond company.
The state-owned diamond company’s General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Lelly Usiku is currently Acting CEO.
Hamutenya was appointed in July 2017 to lead NAMDIA on a five-year term after having been headhunted from the Ministry of Mines and Energy where he was the Diamond Commissioner and was the principal advisor to the Namibian Government on diamond policy.
NAMDIA was established out of an agreement between the government and De Beers in 2016, to verify whether Namibia was getting the best value of its diamonds by going onto the open market.
