Sankwasa grills Ondangwa council on CEO pay hike and N$1.2m S&T spend

The Ondangwa Town Council yesterday came under severe scrutiny from urban development minister, Sankwasa James Sankwasa, who demanded answers on why the local authority increased the CEO 's salary above the legal threshold without ministerial approval.Ondangwa Town Council 's CEO, Ismael Namgongo, was appointed on a five-year term in January 2016.Sankwasa also questioned the council’s decision to implement a Subsistence and Travel (S&T) allowance policy that was never approved by the ministry. He cited the 2022/2023 Audit Report, which flagged several serious contraventions of the law and instances of defiance by the council.The minister further pressed the council to explain why his office has not been furnished with a report on outstanding debts owed to the town. He criticised the practice of cutting off water to pensioners owing as little as N$1 000, while businesses with much larger arrears continue receiving services.“One of the issues the auditor general picked up in your report is the issue of the salary of the CEO that Ondangwa Town Council is paying. "I want to know if you received this report and what was discussed. The minister has not approved the salary, but the town council went ahead and gave the salary. I want to know why the council went ahead to overrule the minister. The law is clear that the minister has to determine that,” Sankwasa said.Council’s defenceOndangwa mayor Ester Auala and management committee chairperson Julia Kapia explained that the salary adjustment was made after Namgongo received an offer to become a deputy executive director in one of the ministries last year.They said the council acted to retain him, consulting salary levels at Oshakati and Ongwediva town councils before approving a raise. Auala said they had written to then-minister Erastus Uutoni but received no response before Namgongo was due to take up his new job, forcing them to proceed.“Our CEO last year got an offer, and we did not want to lose him. We tried to talk to him because he wanted to go. For him to stay, we went to Oshakati Town Council and Ongwediva Town Council to compare the salaries and put him at that level. It was on that basis all of us as councillors decided to take that decision and then wrote the letter to the then minister,” Auala said. “There was no response from the minister.”However, Sankwasa challenged them to identify which law allowed the council to overrule the minister. The councillors could not provide any legal basis.The minister also reminded them that Uutoni had, in fact, responded by not approving the request and asked what steps the council took to rectify the matter. He advised them to reapply for a personal scale adjustment for Namgongo’s salary, correctly stating the reasons.Allowance defianceThe 2022/2023 Ondangwa Town Council audit report also revealed that the council introduced a new S&T policy in September 2022, which differed from the one determined by the minister. Between September 2022 and June 2023, the council paid out N$1.23 million in allowances under this unauthorised system.When pressed on the matter during the meeting, both councillors and staff members declined to respond. Sankwasa then directed the council’s finance manager to immediately cease payments under the self-determined policy and revert to the ministry-approved framework.kenya@nmh-hub.com.na

Sankwasa grills Ondangwa council on CEO pay hike and N$1.2m S&T spend

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Namibian Sun 2025-10-28

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Sankwasa grills Ondangwa council on CEO pay hike and N$1.2m S&T spend

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Namibian Sun 2025-10-28

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