By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
Senior Chief Erastus Kahuure has distanced himself from the controversy surrounding the missing funds in the Otjombinde constituency.
Following yesterday’s front page article in this paper entitled “Chiefs Caught in Financial Scam”, in which the two chiefs and the councillor for the constituency were named as having been given money that cannot be accounted for, Kahuure approached New Era to put his side of the story.
Councillor Matti Ndjoze, Chiefs Tumbee Tjombe and Erastus Kahuure were said to be at the centre of the unaccounted amount belonging to the community having constituted a committee that was entrusted with the money.
However, Kahuure says although he is indeed a member of the committee entrusted with the task of handling funds sourced from auctions for both Otjofa and Otjombinde Farmers co-operatives, he stated “I am not a party to the missing funds”.
Kahuure explained to New Era that the only money he handled was N$3500 received from auctions at Okoutjove last year and that amount was handed over to the Secretary of the Traditional Authority who also handed the money to Ndjoze. This amount was used during the Farmers’ Association show last year.
“As I am talking, I have no single penny received from any auctions”, said Kahuure yesterday. He added that he gave the same message to the community in that area at two different platforms.
Kahuure also clarified that on several occasions, he requested Tjombe to open as account through the Post Office but despite that effort, nothing materialised to date.
Efforts have also been made at different times to convene a meeting but Tjombe never pitched up.
A meeting between the Chiefs and the councillor is scheduled for tomorrow morning at Tallismanus and it is at this platform that a clear answer will be given about the whereabouts of the funds and the amount involved. Four other people that organised the auctions will also be present to give a report on how many animals were sold and how much money was collected.
Should Tjombe not pitch this time, the committee will decide on further action, Kahuure said.
The three, under the chairmanship of Ndjoze, make up a committee that was chosen to handle community money sourced from livestock sales during auctions in the constituency from February to August 2006.
They were actually mandated to run auctions on behalf of Otjofa and the Otjombinde Farmers Co-operative, which were at loggerheads at the time over who had the jurisdiction to hold auctions.
It is reported that around N$100 000 was collected and kept by the two chiefs. Apparently, half of the money collected was spent while the remainder, which was supposed to be given back to the Otjombinde Farmers Association (OTJOFA) in August, cannot be accounted for.
The councillor acknowledged that the three received all the money coming from the auctions held between February and August. “The outstanding money I have on record on the computer is N$50 000,” he said, adding that several attempts to ask the chief (Tjombe) to hand over the money have yielded no results.