THE Kamanjab Village Council has suspended its cashier after more than N$80 000 generated from public toilets went missing. The council charges the public N$2 to use its toilets, as a means to supplement its operational budget.
The council’s chairperson, Ricardo Mbahee, confirmed that the council is investigating the cashier, whose name is known to The Namibian but cannot be revealed, as she has not been officially charged. She was suspended earlier this month.
Mbahee added that the cashier has been suspended with full pay and benefits. He said investigations would be concluded within the next two weeks, adding that it was up to the village secretary Bianca Miriam Nguaiko, to engage the Anti-Corruption Commission on the matter.
Nguaiko declined to comment.
A source told that the funds from the public toilets, which are meant to pay for the council’s water bill, were handed over to the cashier in a plastic bag for safekeeping.
“There should be a receipt given, but in this case, there was no receipt,” a source said.
The source added that it was common practice to present a receipt when handing over money at the council.
The source further said the cashier handed over the public toilet money to the person in charge of the department, who later detected that the figures were not adding up.
About N$6 000 in water bills is said to be owed to the village council from the public toilets. understands that incidents of missing toilet funds are not new to the council.
The village councillors last April resolved to scrutinise the management of public toilet funds before a new village secretary was appointed. However, council staff members allegedly ignored the directive.
Contacted for comment, former acting village secretary, Jacobus Namaseb, denied the allegations and declined to comment further, saying he did not want to implicate himself.
Sources say the abuse of public toilet funds might have started in 2016.
“Public toilets generate a lot of money [for the council]. The person in charge recorded how much she made daily, but there are no receipts from the village council. This is a serious abuse of public funds. If it [money] was misused, then those involved should be held accountable,” the source said.
has learnt that the implicated cashier has approached the labour office over unfair labour practices. The labour office has written to Nguaiko instructing her to reinstate the cashier, The Namibian has also learnt.
“How can someone who is being investigated for missing funds be reinstated? The cashier declined to comment.
