Windhoek
Nudo councillor for the City of Windhoek Joseph Kauandenge says he will soon table a motion before the city council that councillors formulate and set council agendas for discussion at the monthly council meetings. He said that currently the municipality’s strategic executives formulate and set the agenda, which is then brought before the council for discussion during council meetings.
Kauandenge said the current system overlooks the fact that councillors represent the electorate, and the agenda is instead set in a manner that does not benefit people in the constituencies of Windhoek.
“The current set-up results in having 99 per cent of the agenda points [focusing on] rezoning issues, thus having no platform for the councillors to air their views and discuss bread and butter issues that affect the residents [in the broader constituencies of the town],” he said.
“It is my belief that we were not elected to only cater for the well-off, whose pre-occupation is rezoning their businesses. But equally we were elected to address burning issues that affect residents like water, electricity and basic service delivery,” he said.
Kauandenge said the motion came from his observations during the last eight months in office as a councillor, where it became evident that the organisational structures and division of power in the city council are a hindrance to service delivery.
Kauandenge explained that this in part means that the people who are elected by residents are not the ones dictating and formulating agenda points to discuss at council.
“It is a given fact that our people, the Windhoek residents, have sent us to council to be their ears and mouth and to speak on their behalf on bread and butter issues that continue to affect them,” said Kauandenge.
He added that it is unacceptable that councillors are confined or restricted by a working format designed and perfected to cater only for a selected few.
“It is time to revise and revisit this format of calling and constituting the meetings so that when council sits 90 per cent of the issues to be discussed will be about our residents’ needs and problems,” he said.