Windhoek CEO candidates promise rosy city

CANDIDATES for the position of the Windhoek municipality’s chief executive officer have made various promises to transform the capital city and make life easier for thousands of residents who languish in deplorable informal settlements.

The candidates also expressed a commitment to reduce the municipality’s skyrocketing debt, improve revenue generation and collection, and accelerate land and housing delivery, alongside alternative electricity generation, among other things.

Five candidates have been shortlisted for the position. They are Charmil Zamuee, Roads Authority’s Conrad Lutombi, Otjiwarongo Town Council’s Moses Matyayi, former Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) acting boss Eino Mvula and Joyce Mukubi, who is the deputy executive director for administration in the Ministry of Works and Transport.

The candidates were given an opportunity to publicly motivate why they should be considered for the appointment at the helm of the city.

The successful candidate will replace former CEO Robert Kahimise who resigned last year to join the Central North Regional Electricity Distributor (Cenored).

One of the critical issues candidates were asked to provide solutions to is the increasing factionalism that has seen executive managers collude with councillors. The Namibian has reported on various incidents in which executive managers made it their business to frustrate the CEO by colluding with councillors. One of the reasons Kahimise left the Windhoek municipality are claims that he was blocked from implementing certain projects.

Before he left, Kahimise instituted an investigation against city officials involved in dubious land deals. At that time, Kahimise was quoted saying: “It is no secret that the council was embroiled in unethical behaviour involving underhand land deals and bribery for the allocation of land involving very highly placed individuals”.

The candidates, however, struggled to propose practical initiatives to address the issue of factionalism.

First to present was Zamuee who said if she is appointed, she would hold councillors and the executive to account for their actions depending on the nature of the transgression. She promised to clean up the city’s financial mess and to improve the recording and reporting systems in her first 100 days in office.

On solutions to the land and housing problem in Windhoek, Zamuee said the municipality needs to work in tandem with all stakeholders to address a number of factors that contribute to the rural to urban migration, such as unemployment, poverty and the underdevelopment of small towns.

Road Authority boss Lutombi aligned his presentation on land and housing delivery as well as funding mechanisms. He wants the municipality to drive the housing agenda and construct more houses. He suggested reducing the municipality’s involvement in public-private partnerships for housing development, which pushes up the costs of houses.

Matyayi promised to reduce the municipality’s skyrocketing debt which is currently estimated to be more than N$1 billion. To do this, he said the municipality will propose compulsory debit orders for residents in arrears. He also wants the government to start deducting portions of civil servants’ salaries to pay their municipal bills. To reduce further indebting residents, Matyayi said the municipality must implement prepaid water and electricity systems.

Mvula said he will encourage innovation and support small and medium enterprises in the city. He wants the municipality to introduce a housing initiative which would enable residents to buy houses, paying less than N$3 000 in monthly installments. He also aims to introduce solar power initiatives at residential homes to reduce the city’s spending on electricity.

Mukubi promised to improve the municipality’s infrastructure development. She added that, if appointed, she would investigate the method followed by the municipality to determine property rates and taxes with a view to restructuring them to be more competitive.