Aminuis constituency councillor Peter Kazongominja says the many unfinished capital projects in the area are due to the misappropriation of funds by those entrusted to deliver services to the people.
According to the councillor, a number of projects such as renovations to clinics, police stations and schools have stalled over the years.
“Funds are misappropriated. Central government must not say this is a year of resilience because as long as there is misappropriation of funds and no monitoring on how resources are used and who is implementing the projects, then capital projects will remain unfinished,” he told New Era yesterday.
“As we speak, there are a lot of capital projects that are idle for the past five years. Before we come up with new plans, let us focus, and complete work that was in progress. We can’t go to new plans and leave the old ones out. People need the services of such clinics, police stations, and schools but have not been completed.”
Mid-last year, a deplorable state of affairs regarding the completion of infrastructure and capital development projects throughout the country surfaced through a report requested by President Hage Geingob and commissioned by works and transport minister John Mutorwa. The final report, which was completed at the end of June 2020, confirmed that a trifling 54 capital projects were completed between 2016 and 2019 out of 153 projects awarded between 2012 and 2014 through the now-repealed Tender Board of Namibia Act.
The report showed that 56 of the projects were not yet complete while 43 were completely abandoned and left incomplete.
At the time, the works minister directed his staff to ensure that mechanisms be put in place to finish the incomplete projects in which the government has already invested significant funds. Kazongominja echoed Mutorwa’s directive that those mechanisms be put in place to finish the incomplete projects.
Further, he said the region does not have an adequate government fleet because a lot of vehicles broke down and have not been repaired.
According to him, they don’t even have a truck to pull equipment if a borehole is broken.
“That is why I concur with the minister of transport. Let us go back and repair these old cars. Some of these cars only need minor repairs. We have engineers, mechanics, and plumbers paid by the government. But things are only put out on tenders while these people get paid for doing nothing year in year out. We don’t need a big budget to fix these cars. Even our office car is broken because of a petrol tank that is leaking. Now people don’t get services because the car is stuck,” he stressed. He suggested there is a need for central government and regional leadership to dialogue to effectively deliver services to the people.
-anakale@nepc.com.na