WALVIS BAY – The infamous findings contained in an audit report performed by accounting firm PwC Namibia over an alleged unaccounted for N$24 million have caused a rift among councillors at the Walvis Bay municipality.
During the monthly council meeting held on Wednesday morning, some councillors questioned the secrecy over the report, saying they are facing continuous public scrutiny due to the report that was never made
public.
PwC told New Era in an exclusive interview last year that they are obliged to keep the forensic report of the Walvis Bay municipality confidential, and it cannot be released to a third party.
The firm also said council can only release it to a roleplayer in the process, but that party must sign a binding document to keep the report confidential. Irate councillors are now accusing each other of sleeping on the report to protect their allies in administration, instead of taking action as two more managers are implicated by the report.
Council last year paid N$600 000 for the audit report after allegations of irregularities over the Massive Urban Land Servicing Project surfaced. These allegations resulted in the suspension of three managers at the municipality, but they have since returned to work.
Swapo councillor Albertina Nkoshi said during the meeting that councillors are divided due to this, and are constantly criticised by the public over the audit
report.
She raised crucial questions two weeks ago with regard to the report and its recommendations to see if any investigations have been carried out after the report was received from PwC.
Nkoshi furthermore questioned the procurement process used to enlist the audit firm. She also took issue with how a legal company was appointed to look into the audit report.
“To date, it marks six weeks without any feedback from legal services. Those questions are not even answered yet, but the media knows more about it, and knew about the issues before the councillors. How is it possible that some of the councillors know what is happening and some are left in the dark? That shows how divided we are,” she charged.
‘No action yet’
Swapo councillor Ephraim Shozi also said the secrecy around the report is not supported by all councillors. “We are dealing with public funds, and the report was paid with public funds. Hence, the community wants to know what happened to the N$24 million. They need answers, so let us share the report,” he added. According to Shozi, some councillors made the mistake of creating friendships with certain managers in administration, and are now forced to protect them.
“The mistake we did is making friendships with administration, instead of serving and protecting our community. We are protecting those who are supposed to work for the people,” he said.
He also told New Era yesterday that the report implicates two high-ranking officials at the municipality. However, no action has been taken since the findings of the report were presented.
Labour consulted
The chairperson of the management council, Richard Hoaeb, yesterday told New Era that the council has contracted a labour firm to guide them on the next steps with regards to the recommendations and appropriate action that will be taken. Meanwhile, Walvis Bay mayor Trevino Forbes indicated during the council meeting that Nkoshi’s questions will be answered during the next council meeting.
The Mass Urban Land Servicing Project case dates back to 2018, and was reported due to an alleged lack of transparency during the allocation and selling of houses under the programme.
About 980 houses were built under the programme between 2015 and 2019, whereby the municipality provided land to 42 contractors for the construction of homes, which is now part of the unaccounted for N$24 million. – edeklerk@nepc.com.na