Peter Vilho


Peter Hafeni Vilho is a Namibian politician and retired military officer who is currently a member of Parliament and the Minister of Defence, he has served as the Commander of the Namibian Navy. He was appointed the Commander of the maritime wing of the Namibian Defence Force in 2002. In September 2017 he was appointed as Executive Director of the Ministry of Defence. In March 2020, Namibian president Hage Geingob appointed Vilho as the Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs.

Career

Vilho joined SWAPO in exile 1977 as a 15 year old teenager. In 1981 he then joined the People's Liberation Army of Namibia.

PLAN

After joining PLAN in 1981 for basic training he specilised as a combat engineer in 1982, by 1983 Vilho was an Engineering Instructor at the Tobias Hainyeko Training Centre, Lubango, Angola. In 1984 he was appointed as an Engineer Company Commander and Anti-tank Battery Commander at the Northern Front and Striking Unit.

NDF

Rear Admiral Vilho's career in the Namibian Defence Force started in 1990 after Namibia's independence when he was inducted with the rank of Captain and appointed as paymaster for the 125 Battalion. In 1993, he was promoted to the rank of Major and appointed as the Chief paymaster for the Army Headquarters. Later in the year he was appointed Staff Officer grade2 Operations and Training Army Headquarters with the same rank. Between the following year and 1998 he attended the Admiral Wandenkolk Instruction Centre' in Rio de Janeiro. Upon graduating he was appointed as the Chief of Staff NDF Maritime Wing in 1998. In 2001 he was appointed as the Deputy Commander NDF Maritime Wing with rank of Commander and in the following year following the death of Captain Phestus Sakaria the Commander NDF Maritime Wing Vilho was appointed as his successor with the rank of Naval Captain. The rank of Commodore was bestowed on him in 2004 at the commissioning of the Maritime Wing as a fully fledged Navy. In 2007 he ascended to the rank of Rear Admiral.

Retirement and Politics

He retired from active service in September 2017 to be appointed as Executive Director of the Ministry of Defence and on the 21 March 2020 he was appointed as a non voting member of parliament by President Hage Geingob and as Minister of Defence succeeding Penda ya Ndakolo.

Qualifications