Three people have been shortlisted for the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the country’s troubled rail company, TransNamib. This emerged during a meeting between the board of directors of TransNamib, line ministers and President Hage Geingob at State House on Wednesday. The line ministers included the Deputy Minister of Works and Transport, James Sankwasa, Minister of Public Enterprises Leon Jooste and Minister of Finance Calle Schleittwein. Jooste, informed the gathering that the appointment of the CEO is with Cabinet which will make a decision hopefully next week, Tuesday as to who the new CEO would be. The absence of a CEO for TransNamib, he stressed, has hampered a lot of progress in this company over the past two years. He thus added that it is important that a decision for the new CEO takes place so that the person can build up a new team. “We think there is a fairly critical skills shortage at management level in the company, he added, saying that that has been part of the problem with finalising the business plan,” he said. The new CEO with his new team is thus needed to fine tune the final business strategic plan. He further noted that with the new CEO coming on board soon and with the business plan soon to be finalised, there is need to strengthen the current board. According to the Public Enterprises Minister there are one or two skills deficits on the current board and it is important to have that rectified so that the board is strengthened and can perform its duties. The board he stressed lost a financial person who is a chartered accountant by profession while it needs a sector specific skills person, with some rail background. Two individuals who meet such requirements have been identified, Jooste said. TransNamib Board of Directors members that attended Wednesday’s meeting include its Chairperson, Paul Smith, Deputy Chairperson Elisa Angula, Micheal Ochurub and Dantagos Jimmy Melanie. -Nampa