Northern re-elected mayors promise quality service delivery

After the recent election of new office-bearers for the Oshakati, Ongwediva, Omuthiya, Ondangwa and Outapi town councils, the five re-elected mayors pledged to provide effective services to their residents.

The re-elected mayors are Leonard Hango of Oshakati, Taarah Shalyefu of Ongwediva, Paavo Amwele of Ondangwa, Selma Asino of Outapi and Johannes Ndeutepo of Omuthiya.

Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, Hango said since he took the helm of the council, they came up with a five-year strategic plan that details what the council needs to execute.

“Central to this plan is the upgrade and the relocation of informal settlements and road upgrades. We have relocated residents of Kalaula informal settlement to a new area with water and electricity,” Hango said.

He added that other successes include the relocation of Oshimbangu East residents to a new serviced area.

“We are halfway done with the upgrade of Oshoopala location, where some residents have already been relocated to Onawa location, and more will follow soon. A landfill site has also been set up now,” he said.

According to Hango, in his new tenure, the council will formalise the Evululuko, Oneshila, Okandjengedi North and Uupindi South and North locations.

“We want residents to feel at home and feel that they are receiving adequate services from their council. We want to erase past views from residents that local authorities are not working,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shalyefu said councillors should always be mindful that residents expect quality service delivery and support from councils.

Shalyefu said residents expect to be heard and urged councillors to deliver to the best of their abilities without any delay.

“I would like to urge fellow councillors to find new modalities of resolving land dispute cases that have taken a long time to finalise.”

He said councillors and staff members are expected to be proactive and deliver quality and timely, yet fulfilling services to residents. “I wish to request our residents to continue paying for municipal services in order for the council to continue rendering the required services,” Shalyefu said.

Amwele said he is looking forward to working with the council by implementing the strategic plans that are in the middle of execution, as well as other planned projects.

“We as councillors have officials who are employed to work and implement, we need to support them in any way we can to reach our mission and vision,” Amwele said.

Speaking on the same issue, Ndeutepo said the council has completed most of the capital projects in past years.

Ndeutepo said the town water reservoir the council has constructed over the past 12 months is now 95% complete.

“Hopefully, once NamWater gets water again, we will at least have water for about seven to 10 days without water [rationing],” Ndeutepo said.

He added that the council is also busy with the upgrade of Kanita location, which has already been designed and is only waiting to be serviced.

“Soon we will start with the allocation process and servicing land for that specific extension.”

Ndeutepo said the council will service more land to attract more investment to the town.

“Recently, we have received applications from institutions of higher learning who are seeking land at Omuthiya in order to develop national facilities. We can only do so if we have services available,” he said.

Asino said Outapi is one of the efficiently managed towns with limited resources, although she noted that there is still room for improvement.

“With the ability that we have politically and administratively, I also believe together we can do more to continue providing quality, affordable yet sufficient services to our residents as per the council’s mandate,” Asino said.

Asino, who served on this portfolio for eight years, said as mayor, she pledges to make a significant contribution to overseeing the execution of council projects.

“We will work hard to make sure that our residents are provided with all services they may require,” she said.