The fate of the Kunene region’s state of the region address remains uncertain after governor Vipuaakuje Muharukua insisted he will proceed with the address on Tuesday despite the regional council announcing its postponement.
Speaking to the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday, Muharukua dismissed claims that the address could not go ahead due to a lack of quorum.
Muharukua said such a determination can only be made during a council meeting.
“There is no merit in the purported facts leading to the postponement or the claim that there is no quorum. A quorum is decided in a meeting, not outside the meeting,” Muharukua said.
He accused Kunene chief regional officer George Kamseb of attempting to sabotage government operations in the region.
“The work of the government in the Kunene region will not be sabotaged by anyone as long as I am the governor – not by a councillor and not by a purported chief regional officer,” he said.
The governor’s remarks came after Kamseb wrote to him on Monday informing him that the address had been postponed because the council could not form a quorum.
According to Kamseb, most regional councillors would not be available to attend the meeting because they had not received their June salaries.
The financial crisis follows a decision by urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa to block government funding to the regional council, leaving 94 employees without salaries.
“As a result of the prevailing financial constraints, the council is unable to secure the necessary attendance to meet quorum,” Kamseb writes.
He adds that without a quorum the council cannot legally convene the statutory meeting required for the governor to deliver the state of the region address.
Kamseb further warns that the council’s financial difficulties have severely crippled its institutional and logistical capacity, making it impossible to host the event as planned.
“The state of the region address must be delivered at a legally constituted council meeting. The current lack of quorum makes it impossible to host this statutory event,” he says.
