Kavango East governor Bonifatius Wakudumo is being accused of “forcing” the regional council to allow his private secretary, Benitha Ndara, to illegally occupy a regional council house at Rundu.
This accusation is contained in a letter to president Hage Geingob.
The letter, dated 28 December 2023, was written by six constituency councillors.
They include the deputy chairperson of the National Council, Victoria Kauma, Rundu Rural councillor Paulus Mbangu, Mashare councillor Filipus Mavara, Ndonga Linena councillor Michael Kampota, Ndiyona councillor Laurentius Mukoya and Damian Maghambayi from the Mukwe constituency.
The house allegedly has about five bedrooms and is situated at Tutungeni.
“He deliberately and forcefully allocated a council house to his private secretary without the approval of the council,” the councillors said in the letter.
They added that “he even stated in the council meeting that whether you disapprove the allocation of the house to my private secretary, I will use my power to allocate her the house”.
The councillors said an eviction order has been served, but the governor has allegedly told his secretary not to move out of the house.
Ndara yesterday referred The Namibian to the councillors and the control administrative officer at the governor’s office, Bonifatius Kahare.
Kahare said procedures were followed when the house was allocated to Ndara.
He said the house has not been occupied for 10 years as the regional council did not want the previous governor, Samuel Mbambo, to stay there.
He said the regional council wanted Mbambo to pay a rental fee of N$6 000 per month.
Mbambo allegedly opted to stay at his house at Mupapama, about 50km outside Rundu.
The office of the governor later secured him private accommodation for N$13 000 per month for three years.
“Ndara was to stay there on a temporary basis. Later on there was a demand letter from the regional council for her to move out of the house.
“She was given seven days or they would take legal action against her. From there they went to seek a legal opinion from the Office of the Attorney General,” Kahare said.
Wakudumo yesterday promised to provide The Namibian with his response to the councillors’ letter, but this has not been received by the time of going to print.
Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari last week said the president is yet to study the content of the letter, and could therefore not comment at this stage.
The councillors said as per the Regional Councils Act the councillors allowed Wakudumo to attend council meetings.
However, the governor always “bulldozes” council members and defies council resolutions, they wrote.
The councillors also accused the governor of sidelining them from participating in regional activities and programmes.
They cited the preparation of the 2023 state of the region address as an example.
The councillors wrote that the preparations for this meeting was done by Wakudumo and his office, and never involved the regional council.
“He entered into an agreement with Cuando Cubango province in the Republic of Angola on behalf of the Kavango East Regional Council without the knowledge and consent of the Kavango East Regional Council,” they said.
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