Okorukambe Constituency Councillor Rocco Nguvauva has called for the improvement of the monthly allowances of traditional authorities for them to function optimally.

The Okorukambe Councillors want most of the administrative matters to be carried out by their traditional authorities themselves rather than relying on the government.

Speaking in the National Council before the recess, Nguvauva argues that community leaders are playing an important role in assisting the government in a number of areas.

"The community leaders are responsible for addressing and assisting the government with serious challenges and issues pertaining to marriages, stock theft, communal land disputes, land allocations, and estates of deceased persons without wills or testaments."

He adds that Namibia should learn from Botswana and South Africa on how they treat their traditional leaders.

He also wants the council of traditional leaders to hold meetings more than once a year.

"There's a need to empower the Council of Traditional Leaders and allow the House to make a meaningful contribution to the development of the communal areas. Having an annual meeting of the traditional leaders is not sufficient. They should at least meet biannually and be allowed to come up with their own agendas, not be prescribed by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development on what their agenda should look like. The allowances that are paid to chiefs, traditional councillors, secretaries, and drivers have to be revisited and improved because not even cleaners in the public service are receiving similar allowances and salaries."

The construction of the head office of the Ovambanderu Traditional Authority at Epukiro Post 3 is also long overdue.

"I call upon the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, with the budget allocated to the Ministry, to budget to construct the Ovambanderu Headquarters as it is long overdue and it has been in the books since the early 2000s, 23 years ago. This office was supposed to be the second one after the construction of the office of the Omukwaniilwa, late King Eliphas of Ondonga, who was the chairman of the Council of Traditional Leaders deputised by the late my father, Chief Munjuku II Nguvauva."