Minister of urban and rural development James Sankwasa has directed that there will be no automatic contracts for chief regional officers (CROs) in regions.
Sankwasa says any council seeking to extend a CRO’s term must submit a progress report demonstrating what was achieved during the five-year period.
The report, according to him, must include details of the budget allocated to the council.
“There will be no automatic renewal or extension of CRO contracts. The maladministration of regional councils needs to be seriously addressed,” he says.
Sankwasa made the remarks last week during the handing over of functions under the directorate of agricultural production, extension and engineering services at Otjiwarongo, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform to regional councils.
Sankwasa requested all regional councils to submit their five-year financial report by 15 November to show what has been done.
He said for many years, regional and local councils “have been on holiday while citizens suffer”, and called for an immediate change in attitude among those entrusted with service delivery.
“Regional councils that are failing to provide appropriately audited financial statements to prove that the financial resources given to regional councils indeed can be accounted for proper human resource management,” he said.
He added that all public servants must be held accountable under performance management.
Sankwasa also criticised some administrators who he accused of sabotage.
He said they disrupt work because they are not aligned to certain political parties.
“There are some administrators that act like politicians in the name of sabotage. We sabotage this because I’m not a member of this party. We are not sabotaging the political party, the citizens of this country. You are not sabotaging the political party. You are not sabotaging the council. You are not sabotaging the minister. You are sabotaging the citizens of the standard,” he said.
He added that the performance reflected in the financial reports will indicate how regional councils are likely to perform under decentralisation.
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