The Minister of Urban and Rural Development, James Sankwasa, has said that he is ready to deal with local authorities that are misusing funds.
Sankwasa also ordered all ministries that owe local authorities to pay up.
In his belated independence celebration address at Mukwe in Kavango East over the weekend, Sankwasa addressed a range of issues, including mismanagement of funds.
"People who were supposed to be compensated because they gave away their land for the development of the Divundu town council have not been paid until now. The question I asked the councillor was, What could have caused that? We have instances where money was paid by the ministry for compensating people, but that money cannot be accounted for until now. Whoever is responsible for such misuse of money, start getting ready to pay it back; it's not your money."
Sankwasa also gave a directive to all local authorities.
"All local authorities must submit to my office their outstanding bills. How much does each ministry owe the local authorities? How much does each businessperson operating within that local authority owe that local authority in terms of water and electricity? My message is clear: any ministry that is owing should start paying. The next round will be any member of parliament who owes will have to pay because we lead by example. That will be my next step before November."
The belated independence celebrations also saw the leader of the Hambukushu Traditional Authority, Fumu Erwin Mbambo, taking to the stage, talking about the various unsung heroes who contributed greatly to Namibia's independence.
The Mukwe constituency councillor also gave a breakdown of all the major infrastructural developments that have taken place in the area, with another new development in the pipeline.
"We were requested, all regional councillors of these six constituencies, by Monday, to submit a plot where they will go to construct a 10-hectare sports ground. This sports field will comprise soccer, netball, rugby, baseball, volleyball, tennis and others."