Mayoral positions should be full time, with executive powers – Amupanda

Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Job Amupanda has reiterated the call made by former minister of local government and housing Jerry Ekandjo for the appointment of executive mayors on a full-time basis.

In 2011, Ekandjo suggested that executive mayors be appointed to full-time positions, a change that would allow these mayors to implement decisions alongside a chief executive.

Amupanda believes that granting mayors executive powers will enable them to make binding decisions. He argues that a one-year term for mayors is inadequate for implementing meaningful changes, as the financial year leads to delays and disruptions in implementation.

While reflecting on his journey as a councillor in the City of Windhoek during a recent interview, Amupanda stated that a municipality requires someone to manage it on a full-time basis, rather than someone who only comes in after their regular working hours.

“An effective executive mayor has executive powers which allow them to make binding decisions. I also don’t want to be a mayor for one year because you can achieve absolutely nothing. The financial year starts in July, so by the time you are elected in December, you will have spent three or four months on the batches of the previous regime,” he said.

He continued: “The budget is passed in July, and it gets approved maybe by August even. By the time we start implementing, they are actually electing a new person. The municipal hibernates by November, in December, it goes just at the peak when the budget is supposed to be implemented,” he said.

The AR leader stated that he would not want to be the mayor if the current situation or the method of appointing mayors continues as it is.

He added that if there were an executive mayor with a clear mandate, separate from all the political issues, he might reconsider the position.

Amupanda further emphasised that the current conflicts and misunderstandings occurring in various local councils are not between the councillors themselves, but rather among the political parties.

“The biggest fights that are vicious are actually the internal ones within political parties. Actually, people who sabotage each other are actually from those political parties that even have a majority,” he said.

He also proposed the expansion of Windhoek to transform it into a metropolitan area, extending the city boundaries to incorporate towns such as Okahandja and Rehoboth.

– Nampa

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