Infighting among councillors is unethical – PM

Prime minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila says infighting among local authority councillors and staff members, as well as any unethical conduct, diverts attention and resources from pressing priorities that require urgent attention, leaving the public underserved.

She says the government expects local authorities to embrace the principles of team work among the various stakeholders involved in governance and local development, professionalism, ethics and integrity.

Kuugongelwa-Amadhila was speaking at the official opening of the Association of Local Authorities in Namibia-Namibia University of Science and Technology good governance leadership and project management training held at Ongwediva on Wednesday.

“I understand that there are a lot of infightings within local authorities and I just want to say that such infightings are hindering development from taking place because you are now diverting most of your time to fighting one another, which is not good. I hope the participants at this training workshop will take full advantage of the training provided here to ensure that we are capacitated to transform local authorities into high performing institutions and leading agents of the transformation of our society and economy,” she said.

She added that to ensure the realisation of important interventions required for local authorities to cater for the needs of residents, local authorities must find innovative ways to raise revenue.

“Local authorities are the first point of contact with government by residents and businesses in urban areas and our society is becoming more and more urbanised. They must optimally manage the available resources to ensure value for money, in order to achieve more with the limited resources that are currently available. This includes timely execution of agreed programmes to eliminate delays in service provision and reduce project cost escalations. It also includes innovation to ensure efficient administration and effective service delivery to private citizens and businesses, as well as transparency and accountability,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.

She added that developments in the energy sector require all people to prepare themselves to ensure that the country benefits optimally from the energy resources and the related economic activities that will come about as a result of the investments in this sector.

“Local authorities will experience an increase in the number of residents and in the demand for services, as corporations come to local authorities areas as they seek to leverage the business opportunities created by these investments and as more people are employed in these entities.

Urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni urged councillors to put their political differences aside when in meetings for the interest of all Namibians.

“I deem it fit to stress right from the onset, the importance and the value of the noble call to be a councillor and a local authority administrator, which I will better describe as being a people’s servant. We are in the provision of public services which are referred to at your level as municipal services and attending to the people’s needs within the framework of these services. I, therefore, would like to urge you to pay special attention to issues of land servicing and delivery, the provisions of housing, informal settlement upgrading, good governance in our local authorities and community engagement,” he said.

Uutoni further stressed that there are some councillors who do not use public resources prudently, with abuses of public funds, abuse of power, tribalism, victimisation and intimidation within the local authorities.

“Our communities expect you to deliver the services with the public resources they entrusted in your care. These public resources include funds for the construction of service infrastructure, funds to buy equipment and money for the staff complement that needs to be utilised prudently.

“It is also expected of you to deliver services and ensure that the needs of everyone in the community are catered for without discrimination on the basis of political affiliation, tribe, religion and so forth. In order for us to effectively execute the mandate that has been entrusted to us, as guided by the Local Authorities Act, 1992 as amended, it is critical that we have the necessary tools in place and work together as a team pulling in the same direction,” said Uutoni