SHAROLDINE BOCKTHE village council of Koës in south-eastern Namibia currently has two chief executive officers (CEOs) in office.
This comes after the council appointed a new acting CEO, Johannes Toivo, during the unnotified absence of its CEO, Willie Humphries, from 5 to 24 January.
Speaking to The Namibian on Monday, Humphries said his absence occurred as a result of his sister’s death on 4 January, and for a medical reason after this.
“Eventually what led to why I decided not to submit my leave application before my absence was because last year in October I submitted a compassionate leave application when my mother passed away. The chairperson refused to sign the leave application, therefore there was no need to submit an application beforehand,” he said.
After Humphries’ return to office, he was handed a notice of a disciplinary hearing despite attempting to sign a leave application form at that time.
“When I came back, I thought I took over the reins, as I was appointed as CEO, but I realised they continued working with the acting CEO.
“For the two weeks in my office, there is no communication, and there is clear exclusion in any decision-making. They are only communicating with the acting CEO, and doing everything with the acting CEO,” he said.
He said his signatory rights were revoked in November last year after his unlawful dismissal by the village council for about a month.
The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development discovered that the right procedures were not followed, which led to his reinstatement in November, he said.
However, during a meeting in December last year, the council refused to sign any agreements with Humphries despite the ministry’s request to extend his contract for five years, starting on 9 February 2021, he said.
He said this request was made in a letter dated 16 February 2021.
Humphries said he had a bad working relationship with the chairperson, Johannes Jansen, who is the head of the village council.
Jansen on Monday declined to comment on the matter.
Councillor Etteien Kooper of the Koës Village Council confirmed that the council currently has two CEOs.
He said the councillors do not have a good working relationship with each other and often quarrel about decisions.
“Without our knowledge, the three Landless People’s Movement (LPM) councillors revoked the CEO’s signatory rights. How can there be teamwork if the three councillors already made such a decision, and we, the two Swapo councillors, are only informed afterwards?” Kooper asked.
Humphries is currently awaiting the ministry’s intervention, which will visit the village council on 11 and 14 February.
Sara van Staden of the LPM, who is the vice-chairperson of the village council, yesterday confirmed that the CEO’s signatory rights have been revoked.
“For the 10 months since we have been appointed, he has worked without a contract. He executed his duty, but it has been somewhere recently that we decided to revoke his signatory rights for things we have seen him doing,” she said, without divulging further information.
Van Staden asked The Namibian to contact the chairperson for more information.
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