A WINDHOEK City Council member’s attempt to stop the council from reappointing Windhoek City Police chief Abraham Kanime for a three-year period with an annual pay package of nearly N$2,5 million has failed in the High Court.
An application in which Popular Democratic Movement city council member Ignatius Semba asked the High Court to stop the council from implementing a decision to reappoint Kanime as head of the Windhoek City Police did not meet the requirements to be heard as an urgent matter, judge Hannelie Prinsloo ruled in the High Court yesterday.
Judge Prinsloo ordered that Semba’s application be struck from the court roll and that he should pay the city council’s legal costs in the matter, after hearing oral arguments from lawyers representing Semba and the city council on the point whether the application should be heard urgently.
Semba’s application was filed at the Windhoek High Court on Friday last week.
In an affidavit filed at the court, Semba claimed the city council flouted the law when it decided on 27 February to approve Kanime’s reappointment for a three-year period with effect from 1 May.
Following that decision, a draft employment agreement was agreed by the city’s management committee, and that agreement is due to be considered for approval by the city council at a meeting this week, according to Semba.
In terms of the draft agreement, which has also been filed at the court, Kanime is to be reappointed as police chief at an annual pay package of about N$2,47 million, or close to N$206 500 per month.
The agreement states that he is to be paid a basic salary of N$1,38 million a year (N$115 685 monthly), plus an annual car allowance of N$302 268 (N$25 189 a month), a housing allowance of N$485 880 a year (N$40 490 monthly), a pension fund contribution of around N$301 243 a year (N$25 103 a month), and also an annual pay bonus.
According to Semba, he learned at the end of January that Kanime had resigned as Windhoek City Police chief with effect from the start of May.
Kanime is due to reach the retirement age of 60 in May.
Following Kanime’s resignation, the city’s mayor asked the heads of Namibia’s security forces to recommend candidates for the post to be vacated by Kanime, and in February the security forces’ heads proposed the head of the Namibian Police’s Special Branch Directorate, commissioner Elias Mutota, as a possible candidate for the position, Semba recounted in his affidavit.
However, on 27 February the city council decided to retain Kanime as police chief. Semba said he objected to that decision and indicated it would be contrary to the Windhoek Municipal Police Service Regulations and would thus be unlawful, before he left the council meeting in protest.
Semba also said the city council’s decision to reappoint Kanime for a three-year period, and a management committee decision to refer a draft employment agreement to the council for its approval, were premised on regulations dealing with the retirement of the police chief, whereas Kanime had in fact resigned.
According to procedures set out in the regulations, the person to be appointed as police chief should be recommended by the city’s chief executive officer, and the city council should appoint the person only in consultation with the inspector general of the Namibian Police, Semba said.
In response to the application, Windhoek mayor Fransina Kahungu in an answering affidavit disputed the alleged urgency of Semba’s case.
She commented that Semba’s “gripe” was that the current city police head resigned, and that Semba somehow read into the regulations that once Kanime resigned he could not be reappointed or no new contract could be negotiated with him.
“There are many reasons why an employer would want to retain services of an employee who has resigned and to negotiate different terms and conditions of employment with such an employee,” Kahungu stated.
She also said Kanime’s resignation would be effective only at the end of April – but that the city council has intervened in the meantime and the resignation would not take effect if an agreement on Kanime’s continued employment is reached before the end of the month.
Kanime was suspended from his post for 14 months from March 2018 to May last year, before the city agreed to end his suspension and drop disciplinary charges he had been facing. He continued to receive a monthly pay package of close to N$185 000 while he was on suspension.
Semba was represented by lawyers Eva Shifotoka and Laura Pack. Gerson Narib and Vernon Lutibezi represented the city council.
