Rotten food aid in Karas Region a ‘hot potato’

A TOTAL lack of accountability was the main reason why more than 6 000 kg of maize meal destined for the food-for-work programme in the Karas Region was left to rot.

Neither the Karas Regional Council nor the Ministry of Local Government’s Food Secretariat was taking responsibility for the programme, the Council’s director of planning, Ben Rukambe, said at a Regional Emergency Management Unit (Remu) meeting at Keetmanshoop yesterday. The 500 bags of spoilt maize meal were buried in a hush-hush fashion seven kilometres outside Keetmanshoop on the Aroab road at the end of last month.The bags were discovered in a warehouse when Food Secretariat officials visited the region in November to assess the programme.Rukame said the maize was buried to prevent food poisoning, since it was unfit for human consumption.The Regional Council and the Food Secretariat are squabbling over who was responsible for the food-for-work programme.According to Rukambe, the Food Secretariat claimed that the programme was decentralised long ago, thus the accountability rested with the Regional Council.But he claimed the decentralisation process was not done in a “proper manner”.”If it was done properly, the Regional Council should have been in possession of an employment contract of the Rural Regional Development Planner tasked with the programme, meaning paying his salary and providing necessary logistic assistance,” he added.He argued that the Regional Council only had a “dotted supervision line” over the Regional Development Planner attached to the council, therefore reporting and planning of the programme were directly administered by the Food Secretariat Department.”Now that things went sour, they’re looking for someone to hold accountable,” he claimed.But the Deputy Director of Local and Regional Government, Manfred Minjingua, disagreed.Minjingua said the food-for-work operational guidelines that were handed out to councils were crystal clear on the supervision of the programme.He said these guidelines stipulated that Remu would elect a Regional Food-For-Work Technical Committee, which should have supervised the programme.This entailed regular visits to warehouses where food was stored, as well as monitoring and approving food-for-work projects.”But, in the case of Karas Region it was not established, for reasons only known to them,” he said.At yesterday’s Remu meeting it emerged that the regional committee was only elected two weeks ago.Minjingua claimed that a lack of oversight on the part of the Karas Regional Council gave too much leeway to the Rural Regional Development Planner, which resulted in the food being left to rot.”Karas is the first ever region where food-for-work got rotten,” he said.Minjingua said food-for-work programmes at Blouwes and Warmbad were in fact managed by the Karas Regional Council.”In what capacity did they supervise the latter projects, if they want to shift accountability to the Food Secretariat Department?” he asked.According to Rukambe, an investigation into the rotten food will be concluded at the end of this month.Based on its outcome, the Karas Regional Council will then forward their findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Local Government.The 500 bags of spoilt maize meal were buried in a hush-hush fashion seven kilometres outside Keetmanshoop on the Aroab road at the end of last month.The bags were discovered in a warehouse when Food Secretariat officials visited the region in November to assess the programme.Rukame said the maize was buried to prevent food poisoning, since it was unfit for human consumption.The Regional Council and the Food Secretariat are squabbling over who was responsible for the food-for-work programme.According to Rukambe, the Food Secretariat claimed that the programme was decentralised long ago, thus the accountability rested with the Regional Council.But he claimed the decentralisation process was not done in a “proper manner”.”If it was done properly, the Regional Council should have been in possession of an employment contract of the Rural Regional Development Planner tasked with the programme, meaning paying his salary and providing necessary logistic assistance,” he added.He argued that the Regional Council only had a “dotted supervision line” over the Regional Development Planner attached to the council, therefore reporting and planning of the programme were directly administered by the Food Secretariat Department.”Now that things went sour, they’re looking for someone to hold accountable,” he claimed.But the Deputy Director of Local and Regional Government, Manfred Minjingua, disagreed.Minjingua said the food-for-work operational guidelines that were handed out to councils were crystal clear on the supervision of the programme.He said these guidelines stipulated that Remu would elect a Regional Food-For-Work Technical Committee, which should have supervised the programme.This entailed regular visits to warehouses where food was stored, as well as monitoring and approving food-for-work projects.”But, in the case of Karas Region it was not established, for reasons only known to them,” he said.At yesterday’s Remu meeting it emerged that the regional committee was only elected two weeks ago.Minjingua claimed that a lack of oversight on the part of the Karas Regional Council gave too much leeway to the Rural Regional Development Planner, which resulted in the food being left to rot.”Karas is the first ever region where food-for-work got rotten,” he said.Minjingua said food-for-work programmes at Blouwes and Warmbad were in fact managed by the Karas Regional Council.”In what capacity did they supervise the latter projects, if they want to shift accountability to the Food Secretariat Department?” he asked.According to Rukambe, an investigation into the rotten food will be concluded at the end of this month.Based on its outcome, the Karas Regional Council will then forward their findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Local Government.