By Frederick Philander REHOBOTH A subtle game of preferential maximum allocation of funding to specific constituencies is apparently being practised by the management committee of the Hardap Regional Council. This emerged on Tuesday during an openhearted New Era interview with the Regional Councillor of the Rehoboth Urban constituency, Swapo’s Theo Diergaardt. “I feel very uncomfortable with the situation that has been coming on for the past two years,” Diergaardt complained. The governor of the Hardap Region, Katrina Hansen, serves as the chairperson of the management committee. “Taking into account the fact that I was in 2004 elected to serve the interests of the Swapo Party in the town, people ask me about these things and they rightfully demand honest answers. Even those persons who politically opposed me vehemently in the elections need to be provided with answers. After all, they are also taxpayers,” said Diergaardt when probed about the alleged uneven government funding allocation. Three of the six constituencies, represented by the three management committee members, are apparently better off than the others. “An example of this subtle preferential allocations by the Hardap regional management committee is the bucket system, an unhygienic and outdated evil we all want to get rid of in all Namibian towns. We still have the dreaded bucket system in place in many of the towns in our constituencies, whereas it has been gotten rid of as priorities in certain towns in specific constituencies,” said Diergaardt. In his view, the management committee does things with little consideration given to the Regional Council Act. “The committee operates basically as a self-righteous organ, causing political friction and division among councillors. I am perturbed by the way the management committee operates. It reflects badly on our party as well as on our regional council. It is time the committee changed its ways and made sure that the financial cake is split evenly among the six constituencies,” he said. The other two members of the management committee are Edward Vambo, representing Rehoboth Urban East, and Trougott Claassen, regional councillor for Rehoboth Rural. Despite the alleged unfair financial advantage, Diergaardt claims that he has successfully served his constituents over the past two years. “All the socio-economic upliftment efforts I have started in close corporation with the local town council in the Rehoboth Urban constituency came about through consistent hard work in the community I serve,” Diergaardt said referring to a number of successful community projects he had initiated. He was proud of the fact that he managed to secure about N$900 000 from the Ministry of Local Government and Housing for homes and water supply in Block G in Rehoboth. “The project was successfully completed at the end of last year. Presently, I am in search of funding to install sewerage lines to get rid of the old bucket system – a real problem – as well as the installation of electricity. This bucket system is the cause of many illnesses such as TB, polio and stomach illnesses due to its unhygienic nature,” he said. He claimed that thanks to an amount of N$1 million from the same ministry, some 30 houses would now also be built in the constituency for pensioners and disabled people. “I see this as the start to provide homes to more than 50 such people formally listed with my office. I will be responsible for the building of the houses, which are now out on tender, and the Rehoboth Town Council will provide the workforce. Thereafter, the local authority will take ownership of the houses,” said Diergaardt, who also claimed that because of his hard work certain tarred roads in Rehoboth have been resurfaced with funding he sourced from the Rehoboth Community Trust and the Hardap Regional Council. As a former rugby player of Reo Falcons, Diergaardt has also done a lot to help improve the local sports fields for soccer and rugby. “I secured an amount of N$190 000 to upgrade both soccer and rugby fields. In this process, floodlights and a borehole have become a reality. I hope through the cash-for-work programme of the government we will soon be able to upgrade the fence at the rugby field. In the past, rugby teams had to go and play matches in Mariental due to a lack of proper facilities,” Diergaardt said. On education, Diergaardt has also done quite a lot in securing financial assistance from the Ministry of Education. “I secured more than N$400 000 for repairs to the roof of the MK Gertze Secondary School and renovations to the administration and ablution blocks at Dr Lemmer Secondary School. Education plays a pivotal role in the life of the people I serve,” said Diergaardt, who insists that more gravel roads in the town need to be tarred. “Surveys have found that the dust content is too high to attract business and investment to Rehoboth. We have had business people from Malaysia, China and Japan, keen to invest in business ventures, but the dust discouraged them. This is a big problem that will continue to exist unless most roads are tarred as a priority,” Diergaardt concluded. Approached for comment, Governor of the Hardap Region Katrina Himarwa, formerly Hanse, yesterday denied that the management committee is solely responsible for the allocation of the regional budget. “Someone in the know would be aware of the fact that the Hardap budget does not solely lie with the management committee. It is customary that once the management committee has taken its decisions regarding the budget, it is submitted to the whole Hardap Regional Council of which councillor Diergaardt is part and parcel of. We can only make recommendations,” Himarwa defended her management committee. The governor also said that thus far, her management committee and the Hardap Regional Council have prioritized incomplete ongoing projects. “It doesn’t concern us in which constituency these projects may have been started. Once they have been identified as a priority, the Regional Council would follow through with it. Furthermore, I am obliged to be regionally focused and accountable and not on one specific constituency ,” she said. There is no specific Ministerial formula for budget allocations at any of the regional governments, only ministerial guidelines according to a source.