Omusati officials suspended without charge

Two senior officials at the Omusati Regional Council say they were illegally suspended without charge last month.
Omusati chief regional officer Protasius Andowa and the council’s deputy finance director, Elizabeth Mutota, were sent on forced leave after the authorities reportedly unearthed widespread irregularities.
The two have since been reinstated after the Public Service Commission said the regional council had decided to suspend them without the commission’s consent.
This week Andowa opened up to Namibian Sun, saying they simply complied with the regional council’s order to take forced leave.
“No charges were issued against us and we only complied with their order. There is no ground in this matter because we were only told to go home and wait until the council call us back to work,” Andowa said.
Andowa was replaced by director of finance Gervasius Kashindi in an acting capacity.
Omusati Regional Council chairperson Modestus Amutse told Namibian Sun that they were seeking advice on how to proceed with the matter.
Amutse explained that the two officials were forced to take leave to make way for auditing that is currently being conducted at the council.
He added that their suspension had nothing to do with irregularities involving N$12.3 million.
Last month a source at the regional council told this newspaper that the two officials had reportedly failed to explain how the regional council spent N$12.3 million.
The source further claimed that Andowa was suspected of giving false information on how some of the council funds meant for capital projects were spent, dating back as far as the 2012/13 financial year.
“It was after the Omusati state of the region address when he gave misleading information to the governor on the progress of the capital projects that the governor suspected something fishy and an investigation was launched.
“The director of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Paulus Noa, was also here and that is what led to his suspension,” the source told Namibian Sun.
Amutse, however, maintains this was not the case.
“We realised that auditors never audited items in the presence of the CRO and deputy director of finance. The auditor is auditing whether the council’s financials and projects are managed properly. We are not targeting the two officials,” Amutse said.
Amutse was at pains to explain why the forced leave only affected the CRO and the deputy finance director and not he director responsible for finance.
“We want a fair and credible investigation. We cannot say the reason of suspension, what if the investigation could not give such evidence or if it proved something else? The situation is under control and information that it was because of the N$12.3 million is misleading and I am wondering who is leaking such information,” he said.

ILENI NANDJATO