Itah Kandjii-Murangi said the draft agreement that was submitted by Limkokwing University to the higher education was discussed, rejected and never carried forward and will never be carried forward.
Kandjii-Murangi has been the subject of discussion on social media and other platforms after the leaking of documents regarding her perceived involvement with the Malaysian university.
Addressing the National Assembly Tuesday, Kandjii-Murangi said, in actual fact, the unsigned agreement was a wish list by the Malaysians and nothing materialised.
The minister also said there is no such agreement in the offing between the ministry or the government of Namibia.
She, however, said the Limkokwing University programs are rated high in Malaysia, they were given permission to operate in Namibia as a university, offering those unique technology related programs geared at creating relevant knowledge, skills and the deployment of technology to promote quality service delivery.
While Limkokwing has been allowed to operate, Kandjii-Murangi said they were advised to follow formal recognised steps of registering a private university in Namibia as stipulated in the Higher Education Act No.26, of 2003.
She said the Act established the National Council of Higher Education that carries out the initial verification of any investor who wants to come into the education sector as far as financial viability and overall good standing.
ALLEGATIONS
Kandjii-Murangi said it was alleged that she owns Limkokwing University of Creative Technology; and that there was an agreement in the offing, to be signed between Limkokwing and the government of Namibia or the higher education ministry.
“These are all fabrications that are aimed at tarnishing my good name and reputation, without any shred of truth,” she said.
According to Kandjii-Murangi, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology is an internationally reputable TVET Model university, solely owned by Malaysians.
Its headquarters, she added, is in Malaysia, but has several campuses in Asia, Europe and Africa,
including in Botswana, Eswatini, Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Lesotho.
“It is a fact that Limkokwing University approached the ministry of education, to set up a private campus in Namibia before my time, and visits between the parties were undertaken.
“It is also a fact that this university started to receive scores and scores of Namibian students under NSFAF to pursue studies in various fields of technology before my time,” she explained.
When the higher education ministry was formed in 2015, Kandjii-Murangi said, one of the goals was to expand and improve the quality of TVET education through curricula standards harmonisation, introduce TVET instructor education, to mention but a few.
She admitted attending a graduation ceremony at the university where she met the then Namibian Ambassador in Malaysia leading to further engagements.
Kandjii-Murangi denied playing a role in ring fencing funds for any institution or students, saying this is the domain of the NSFAF Board.
Instead, she added, students attending all registered private universities by National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and sanctioned by the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA) are eligible for NSFAF funding.
According to Kandjii-Murangi, it has been and remains the higher education ministry’s goal to consolidate and strengthen the Namibia Training Authority by doing away with overlaps.
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