21 Mar 2013

North West District councillors have been urged to assist the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) to uproot  practices of corruption in the district.

Delivering his speech during a full council meeting, council chairperson, Mr Lathang Molonda said corruption and economic crime were taking their toll in the district hence the need to join hands and fight its occurrence.

He said the DCEC regional office in Maun, which covers the North West District, Ghanzi, Chobe and Boteti Sub Districts received 91 reports in 2012.

He noted the reports centred around land distribution, conflict of interest by government employees in relation to tenders, matters of employment and abuse of office.

He said investigations had shown that a number of public officers ran businesses without having declared before their employers.

Certain officers, he said, awarded tenders to themselves, their relatives and friends. Mr Molonda said the DCEC had only been able to complete a few cases mainly because of the large geographical area that it covered.

He informed the house that the directorate was established as an oversight statutory body with the mandate to combat corruption and economic crimes.

On other issues, the chairman informed councillors that their twinning agreement with the Hultsfred Municipality in Sweden was progressing well.

The main area of cooperation was development of the local economy by building capacity with a view to alleviating poverty.

Mr Molonda revealed that capacity building was vital in eliminating obstacles that impeded poverty eradication efforts in the district. He added council would send six officers to Sweden to be trained as trainers of trainers by 2014. “Such training will widen the knowledge base of our officers for them to deliver more efficient service to the identified projects, and in the long run will generate business growth in the society”, he added.

The Council chairman also informed the councillors that the poverty eradication project was in full swing with purchase of projects materials and equipment going on. However he noted implementation was faced with challenges such as shortage of water in some villages resulting in slow uptake of projects such as backyard gardening and backyard tree nurseries.

Mr Molonda also decried a declining budget for council and said the Revenue Support Grant allocated to the council had been declining over the years.

He pleaded with his fellow councillors to exercise prudent financial management.

He emphasised the need to closely monitor certain expense votes like overtime and subsistence allowance.

The chairman called on officers not to commit overtime as part of their monthly salaries noting that was one of the areas that depleted the council budget even before the end of the financial year.

He also urged councillors to ensure that they focused on debates and promoted adherence to scheduled meetings. ENDS