Traffic chief still waiting

WINDHOEK’S suspended deputy chief of traffic, Eliphas !Owos-Oab, will hear his fate after today’s meeting of the City Council.

Sources say the City of Windhoek has referred the issue of !Owos-Oab’s reinstatement to the Management Committee but the small group of councillors felt last week that it would be more appropriate to handle the issue at the full Council level. Today’s in-camera session of the Council is likely to get into a heated debate, as some councillors have privately informed The Namibian that they were not happy with the manner in which the case was handled.Windhoek’s ratepayers will allegedly fork out in excess of a million dollars in legal fees alone, as well as for the payment of !Owos-Oab’s full pay and benefits for the 13 months he was on suspension.”We have not been happy with the way the whole issue was dealt with.We feel that it is improper for the City to have to fork out thousands of dollars in matters driven by personal vendettas,” said one councillor, speaking on condition of anonymity.Recently an independent panel of investigators, which was led by labour and industrial relations practitioner Robin Raines, instructed the City of Windhoek to reinstate !Owos-Oab after they found no evidence in claims made against him.He was on suspension with pay and faced five charges, among them one of fondling a woman in June 2005 and promising her a job by telling her: “If you look after me, I will look after you”.There was an apparent rivalry between !Owos Oab and his boss Abraham Kanime, Windhoek City Police Chief, who is understood to have orchestrated moves to get rid of his “insubordinate” deputy.Kanime claimed that !Owos-Oab was disobeying his orders and wilfully defaulting in carrying out instructions issued by him.!Owos-Oab denied all the charges through his lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, amid claims that it was a witch hunt and that his job had been reserved for someone else.In the first charge, the City said !Owos-Oab disobeyed an instruction given by his senior Kanime on November 28 in 2005.Kanime allegedly instructed him in writing to implement an action plan for the improvement of the traffic management unit’s performance through specified projects led by selected officers, but !Owos-Oab allegedly disobeyed the instruction.Between November 2005 and March last year, the City claimed, !Owos-Oab withdrew various notifications and summonses issued without authorisation.Request for cancellations, according to the charges, were either to be submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor General or Kanime had to be consulted.Alternatively, he failed to effectively manage or keep proper control over traffic notices issued by the traffic management unit.Today’s in-camera session of the Council is likely to get into a heated debate, as some councillors have privately informed The Namibian that they were not happy with the manner in which the case was handled.Windhoek’s ratepayers will allegedly fork out in excess of a million dollars in legal fees alone, as well as for the payment of !Owos-Oab’s full pay and benefits for the 13 months he was on suspension.”We have not been happy with the way the whole issue was dealt with.We feel that it is improper for the City to have to fork out thousands of dollars in matters driven by personal vendettas,” said one councillor, speaking on condition of anonymity.Recently an independent panel of investigators, which was led by labour and industrial relations practitioner Robin Raines, instructed the City of Windhoek to reinstate !Owos-Oab after they found no evidence in claims made against him.He was on suspension with pay and faced five charges, among them one of fondling a woman in June 2005 and promising her a job by telling her: “If you look after me, I will look after you”.There was an apparent rivalry between !Owos Oab and his boss Abraham Kanime, Windhoek City Police Chief, who is understood to have orchestrated moves to get rid of his “insubordinate” deputy.Kanime claimed that !Owos-Oab was disobeying his orders and wilfully defaulting in carrying out instructions issued by him.!Owos-Oab denied all the charges through his lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, amid claims that it was a witch hunt and that his job had been reserved for someone else.In the first charge, the City said !Owos-Oab disobeyed an instruction given by his senior Kanime on November 28 in 2005.Kanime allegedly instructed him in writing to implement an action plan for the improvement of the traffic management unit’s performance through specified projects led by selected officers, but !Owos-Oab allegedly disobeyed the instruction.Between November 2005 and March last year, the City claimed, !Owos-Oab withdrew various notifications and summonses issued without authorisation.Request for cancellations, according to the charges, were either to be submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor General or Kanime had to be consulted.Alternatively, he failed to effectively manage or keep proper control over traffic notices issued by the traffic management unit.