Govt owes Katima N$14m for free water
KENYA KAMBOWE
RUNDU
Katima Mulilo CEO Raphael Liswaniso says the central government owes the local authority N$14 million for supplying residents with free water to fight Covid-19.
Liswaniso said the town council was hard at work to clear its NamWater debt when it received the directive from the urban and rural development ministry in 2020.
Under the directive, the council had to supply free water to residents and reconnect the supply to defaulters who had been disconnected.
The aim of the directive was to improve sanitation, particularly handwashing, to curb the pandemic.
Liswaniso said although some residents continued paying for water, others did not.
“We had reduced our NamWater debt from N$43 million to N$11 million by April 2020, when the government ordered local authorities to open water free to the people with the promise that they were going to reimburse us. The government now owes us N$14 million,” Liswaniso said.
Liswaniso called on the government to at least pay half of that amount.
“We know they don’t have money but if they can give us half of that money, we are good to go,” he said.
Ministerial bottlenecks
Liswaniso argued that local authorities do not necessarily require financial support from the state, but support in terms of approving their requests on time.
He alleged that the line ministry does not have the capacity to deal with requests from local authorities, something he described as a challenge for effective governance.
Liswaniso said requests by local authorities to the line ministry, such as for ministerial approval of land sales, could take six to twelve months to be approved.
He said this situation results in potential investors seeking opportunities elsewhere because it takes too long to get approval.
“We understand the dilemma the central government is faced with but they must just assist us in approving our requests faster.
“We are not saying that they must do it blindly but they must just increase their capacity or else they must decentralise those services or reduce the minister’s powers so that some of the powers can be done at the local authority,” he argued.
He said if requests could be approved within a month, local authorities would not be such “cry-babies”.
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RUNDU
Katima Mulilo CEO Raphael Liswaniso says the central government owes the local authority N$14 million for supplying residents with free water to fight Covid-19.
Liswaniso said the town council was hard at work to clear its NamWater debt when it received the directive from the urban and rural development ministry in 2020.
Under the directive, the council had to supply free water to residents and reconnect the supply to defaulters who had been disconnected.
The aim of the directive was to improve sanitation, particularly handwashing, to curb the pandemic.
Liswaniso said although some residents continued paying for water, others did not.
“We had reduced our NamWater debt from N$43 million to N$11 million by April 2020, when the government ordered local authorities to open water free to the people with the promise that they were going to reimburse us. The government now owes us N$14 million,” Liswaniso said.
Liswaniso called on the government to at least pay half of that amount.
“We know they don’t have money but if they can give us half of that money, we are good to go,” he said.
Ministerial bottlenecks
Liswaniso argued that local authorities do not necessarily require financial support from the state, but support in terms of approving their requests on time.
He alleged that the line ministry does not have the capacity to deal with requests from local authorities, something he described as a challenge for effective governance.
Liswaniso said requests by local authorities to the line ministry, such as for ministerial approval of land sales, could take six to twelve months to be approved.
He said this situation results in potential investors seeking opportunities elsewhere because it takes too long to get approval.
“We understand the dilemma the central government is faced with but they must just assist us in approving our requests faster.
“We are not saying that they must do it blindly but they must just increase their capacity or else they must decentralise those services or reduce the minister’s powers so that some of the powers can be done at the local authority,” he argued.
He said if requests could be approved within a month, local authorities would not be such “cry-babies”.
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