Municipal residents are understandably cheering on local government minister James Sankwasa for attacking municipal councillors as being corrupt and incompetent.
Residents across Namibia are now calling for Sankwasa to fire even more town councillors after he invoked the law to get rid of Katima Mulilo’s elected officials.
Soon after the Katima axings, Sankwasa threatened to remove the elected officials of the capital city, Windhoek, citing “poor performance”.
Voters must beware of false prophets. More than that, voters should be extra careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Yes, the frustrations of residents in particularly urban centres are legitimate.
But a Sankwasa wrecking ball is not the solution to corrupt and uncaring councillors voted into municipal offices through a democratic process.
Sankwasa is not politically neutral. RedForce has accused him of using his ministerial portfolio to settle personal scores after the notorious debt collector service allegedly cut off his municipal services at Katima because he failed to pay his bills.
Rather than being an objective overseer, Sankwasa and some of his fellow Cabinet members have shown they’re like runaway trains, drunk on power.
We will leave it to the experts and the courts to determine whether Sankwasa invoked the law correctly in firing elected officials.
What is obvious is that he has failed to follow any due process that is transparent and fair. In fact, Sankwasa has made serious accusations of corruption against the councillors and thus needs to make sure they are tried and punished rather than simply booting his potential opponents from political office.
Voters should not abdicate their civic responsibilities to the unelected Sankwasa in holding accountable the people they elect to deliver water, roads, electricity, refuse removal and other basic municipal services.
Lest the voters forget, it was Swapo (Sankwasa’s dominant political party) that robbed residents of municipal centres of the power to vote directly for councillors who look after specific streets and wards.
Originally, the Constitution of Namibia was clear that local authority officials would be individually elected.
But in a clear indication of abuse of power, Swapo used its majority in the parliament to change the law so that councillors were voted in through parties and associations, denying voters faces and names to hold accountable when there is no water, electricity or streets had potholes.
Voters must demand that their rights be restored in order for them to be able to directly elect municipal officials and thus be able to hire and fire them.
Sankwasa must stay in his lane and pay due attention to the duties he was given as an administrative official.
