Questions over Mnyupe accompanying Geingob on US treatment trip

Presidential economic adviser James Mnyupe has failed to explain why he accompanied president Hage Geingob on a two-day medical treatment trip to the United States (US) on 24 January.

Despite repeated attempts to obtain clarification from Mnyupe and State House, questions regarding his role on the trip remain unanswered.

Political analyst Rui Tyitende has raised questions regarding the capacity in which Mnyupe accompanied Geingob to Los Angeles.

“If it is true that Mnyupe travelled with the president for his medical treatment, then what exactly was his role?” Tyitende asks.

“What was Mnyupe doing on the Qatari private jet?” political commentator Joseph Diescho asks.

According to Namibian Sun, data sourced from Flightradar24, a website for tracking aircraft, suggests Geingob travelled to the US through Algeria aboard a Gulfstream 5 aircraft, rather than using the presidential Falcon assigned to him.

The aircraft is said to have originated from Qatar, yet no specifics were provided regarding the party who arranged its use, nor the party’s connection to Geingob.

A top Qatari government official allegedly funded the trip, including supplying the aircraft to and from the US.

Despite multiple attempts to reach them, neither Mnyupe nor presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari have responded to queries.

The Namibian last week reported that Bank of Namibia governor Johannes !Gawaxab said Geingob signed off on the appointment of the new board of the central bank two days before his office publicly announced his cancer diagnosis.