KEETMANSHOOP: The ||Kharas Regional Council is facing challenges due to its lack of a management committee, which amongst others affects the submission of financial statements and implementation of capital projects.

Acting Chief Regional Officer (CRO), Benedictus Diergaardt in an interview with Nampa on Tuesday said the running of the regional council heavily relies on the management committee (MC) and without it, administrators cannot execute their work effectively.

‘Everything must go through the management committee for approval. For development projects, the proposals come from settlement development committees, then to the regional development coordination committee and lastly to Council for fund approval, so right now, no new projects can be proposed,’ he said.

The ||Kharas Regional Council has been without a management committee since last June after the four Landless People’s Movement and three Swapo councillors failed to elect two members for the MC to join the chairperson, LPM’s Joseph Isaacks, d
uring the re-election of office bearers.

Diergaardt said the last time the council submitted financial statements to the Auditor General (AG) was when the 2019/2020 financial statements were submitted.

He said financial statements cannot be submitted to the AG because they need to be presented to the MC, then the council, before being submitted to the AG for a financial opinion.

‘With the absence of the AG’s opinion, we cannot establish what financial situation we are in. We also cannot determine if we are effective in delivering development. We are not sure if we are carrying out our mandate, which is to bring development to the people of this region,’ Diergaardt said.

Diergaardt further said the allocation of land for development cannot take place.

‘Even this morning I got a call from someone who wants to acquire land for development purposes, that process can also not go forward,’ he said.

He was however quick to point out that incomplete construction projects are continuing.

Regional councils are s
ubsidised by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development while they also collect money through their settlement offices by providing services to residents in those settlements.

When asked how council manages to have an approved budget, Diergaardt said: ‘For us to have the budget approval, we call a special council meeting and during such a meeting the management committee is not really needed, so the budget can be approved through that special meeting.’

The acting CRO said he will seek the intervention of the urban ministry on the way forward regarding the recent suspension of the three Swapo Party councillors.

Last week Council suspended Oranjemund Constituency councillor, Lazarus Nangolo, Karasburg West Constituency councillor, Taimi Kanyemba and !Nami#Nûs Constituency councillor, Susan Ndjaleka.

‘As much as it is politics, the people affected by this whole situation are those on the ground, development is not coming to them. It does not matter from which constituency, everyone is impacted so the counci
llors elected by these people should ensure they deliver the services,’ said Diergaardt.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency