Where is the accountability?
During last week, there were several hearings by the National Council's standing committee on public accounts, on the books of various town councils, village council and the Khomas Regional Council.
The material makes for scary reading and it appears as though the auditor-general is at the end of his tether.
We are not surprised by the qualified audits that are delivered across the country. Financial mismanagement is the order of the day. The problem however, is that there is no accountability. Monies that disappear, erroneous payments that are made, assets and liabilities that are incorrectly listed and the list goes on.
These are public funds and looking at the status in most towns, villages and of course, regions, not a cent can be wasted and nary can we afford to have a cent stolen.
Our people are without flush toilets, hot water, electricity, roads and basic housing. The environmental cost of these burgeoning squatter camps will only be tallied in generations to come, and that in a country which is naturally water-stressed.
Along with these torrid settlements, comes a psychological cost and of course, poverty and crime. And the most vulnerable are the victims of these crimes.
In the case of the City of Windhoek, the City Police is in dire need of vehicles to be able to do its work. But there is no money and of late, everyone is mum on that issue.
It becomes a vicious cycle. Sloppy financial management and high salaries, coupled with fraud and theft in so many of our councils, village or otherwise, leads to the lack of service delivery and infrastructure. This in turn leads to these informal settlements where human beings live in torrid conditions which leads to an increase in crime. And then we turn back to step one, where the money is not properly managed or accounted for, and then we get to the point where the law enforcers cannot do their jobs effectively.
Where is the accountability? These hearings take place regularly. Audits are done annually. And each time a qualified audit is issued, nothing happens.
Nothing.
Can we then assume we are on a downward spiral?
The material makes for scary reading and it appears as though the auditor-general is at the end of his tether.
We are not surprised by the qualified audits that are delivered across the country. Financial mismanagement is the order of the day. The problem however, is that there is no accountability. Monies that disappear, erroneous payments that are made, assets and liabilities that are incorrectly listed and the list goes on.
These are public funds and looking at the status in most towns, villages and of course, regions, not a cent can be wasted and nary can we afford to have a cent stolen.
Our people are without flush toilets, hot water, electricity, roads and basic housing. The environmental cost of these burgeoning squatter camps will only be tallied in generations to come, and that in a country which is naturally water-stressed.
Along with these torrid settlements, comes a psychological cost and of course, poverty and crime. And the most vulnerable are the victims of these crimes.
In the case of the City of Windhoek, the City Police is in dire need of vehicles to be able to do its work. But there is no money and of late, everyone is mum on that issue.
It becomes a vicious cycle. Sloppy financial management and high salaries, coupled with fraud and theft in so many of our councils, village or otherwise, leads to the lack of service delivery and infrastructure. This in turn leads to these informal settlements where human beings live in torrid conditions which leads to an increase in crime. And then we turn back to step one, where the money is not properly managed or accounted for, and then we get to the point where the law enforcers cannot do their jobs effectively.
Where is the accountability? These hearings take place regularly. Audits are done annually. And each time a qualified audit is issued, nothing happens.
Nothing.
Can we then assume we are on a downward spiral?
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Namibian Sun
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