RESIDENTS at Kalkrand, a village 200 km south of Windhoek, yesterday took to the streets with allegations of corruption against the Council officials.
The protesters claimed that officials in the Kalkrand Village Council had misappropriated funds set aside to give the village a facelift and diverted money for the Build Together housing scheme into a private loan scheme. The Council, through its chairperson Alex Titus, denied most of the allegations contained in a petition handed over to him.”I will forward the petition personally to the Minister of Local Government, but must say that most of the allegations are not true.These are just people who tried to access Council money for their own gain and we refused to give them the money because it was budgeted for something else,” Titus countered.He claimed that newcomers to Kalkrand had instigated the community to demonstrate against the Council.In the petition handed over to the Council, the community alleged that a Council employee was given a study loan without the Council’s knowledge while a relative of a senior Council employee had received N$1 700 in addition to N$32 000 through the Build Together scheme.This, they claimed, was happening while the Council at the same time refused to give loans to some residents under the Build Together scheme.They also alleged that the Council’s books indicated that N$35 000 was used to buy street signs while there were none in the whole of Kalkrand.The Council also bought a private house for N$75 000 to set up a bed-and-breakfast business but the Local Authority Development Committee said their study showed it would not be profitable.”They ignored the advice of the LADC and pushed through the purchase of the house.What was behind the purchase,” the community asks in the petition.Titus said the Council bought the house to create jobs for villagers.He said the concerns of the community would be dealt with by the head office of the Ministry of Local Government.The Council, through its chairperson Alex Titus, denied most of the allegations contained in a petition handed over to him.”I will forward the petition personally to the Minister of Local Government, but must say that most of the allegations are not true.These are just people who tried to access Council money for their own gain and we refused to give them the money because it was budgeted for something else,” Titus countered.He claimed that newcomers to Kalkrand had instigated the community to demonstrate against the Council.In the petition handed over to the Council, the community alleged that a Council employee was given a study loan without the Council’s knowledge while a relative of a senior Council employee had received N$1 700 in addition to N$32 000 through the Build Together scheme.This, they claimed, was happening while the Council at the same time refused to give loans to some residents under the Build Together scheme.They also alleged that the Council’s books indicated that N$35 000 was used to buy street signs while there were none in the whole of Kalkrand.The Council also bought a private house for N$75 000 to set up a bed-and-breakfast business but the Local Authority Development Committee said their study showed it would not be profitable.”They ignored the advice of the LADC and pushed through the purchase of the house.What was behind the purchase,” the community asks in the petition.Titus said the Council bought the house to create jobs for villagers.He said the concerns of the community would be dealt with by the head office of the Ministry of Local Government.
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