The City of Windhoek plans to rejoin the Association of Local Authorities in Namibia (ALAN), an umbrella body representing all local authorities, Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda has announced. Amupanda during a media briefing on Tuesday said the council has approved the renewal of the City’s membership with the association after it was terminated in 2019 due to concerns over a lack of financial reporting by ALAN. At the time, it was decided that the City of Windhoek would resign from the umbrella body until it has provided the necessary financial reports as requested. ALAN submitted the necessary financial reports to the City Council last year and the council decided to rejoin the association, he said. Amupanda further announced that the council has approved procedures for the handling of humanitarian and shelter requests due to deteriorating living conditions in informal settlements, which are sometimes worsened by the lack of common operating procedures for handling urgent requests to access land in informal settlements or low-income areas for residential purposes on humanitarian grounds following exposure to a hazard or an unfortunate event. “In case of fire, flooding or similar incidents, temporary relief in the form of blankets and mattresses is provided by the emergency response team. While this is a good gesture, the intervention does not go beyond temporary relief. It is reasoned that hazards or unfortunate events are a permanent fixture in every society, therefore it is prudent to put in place procedures to timely respond to an accommodation crisis following an act of nature or unfortunate event,” said Amupanda. He further said, due to the urgent nature of requests or duty to respond, the council should delegate and empower the management committee to make decisions on its behalf and report such decisions to it quarterly for endorsement. -NAMPA