This statement can be attributed to Nambawan Super Chairman Mr Reg Monagi.

On Tuesday, 5 October 2022, Nambawan Super Limited (NSL) resorted to locking out tenants occupying the Revenue Haus (Internal Revenue Commission) and Vulupindi Haus (Department of Finance) after the State failed to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for the settlement of its outstanding rental arrears.

Overnight, NSL has extended the lockout to Eda Tano Haus (Department of Lands & Physical Planning) and Treasury Haus (Department of Treasury).

Over the past 12 months, NSL has been consulting with all levels of the State on the issue of outstanding rentals which date back three (3) years to 2019 and had grown to more than K170 million by October 2022.

Through these discussions with the State, we believe that we have presented an accurate account of the arrears owed, based on the Invoices issued each month by the facilities manager and reconciled against payments received.

NSL has been actively trying to work with the State to resolve this with little success, leaving NSL little choice but to escalate to locking our own Members from their workplaces.

NSL is resolved that the State will remain locked out until they sign the MoA and make the next payment of K30 million as stipulated in the agreement. Once the State enters an agreement, if they default on the payment plan, NSL will not hesitate to lock out its buildings again.

We understand this action has a flow on impact to our hard-working Members and causes business disruptions, but the State must meet its obligations.

Despite the lockouts, NSL is continuing to engage with the State to proactively resolve the issue in a mutually satisfying manner.

NSL will not lock out the Department of Health, which is also a tenant of NSL, and will allow access only for critical staff from the Department of Finance that manage the Payroll and Integrated Financial Management Systems, to ensure public servants’ payroll is not unduly affected by this exercise.

While the rental arrears remain unpaid, the Fund’s over 214,000 Members continue to lose value on their potential returns. If the issue remains unresolved, NSL expects that it will compound the already tough global economic conditions that the Fund has been facing in 2022.