The Kavango East Regional Council is not happy with the governance assessment report released by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Its Chairperson, Damian Maghambayi, says the report was produced without consulting the regional councils on the implementation of projects.

This year, the IPPR published its first Local and Regional Government Annual Assessment Report.

The assessment measured the levels of transparency and accountability at each of the 14 regional councils in Namibia.

Maghambayi is not happy, as he says the IPPR depends on social media platforms to measure the performance of the councils.

"You know this rating sometimes I think we just need to be very serious and honest with ourselves; you cannot tell me that we are the poorly performing council because the information is not being disseminated through social media, and then you are drawing the public's attention to say this is one of the worst performing councils in the country without coming down and looking at what the council is trying to do with very limited resources."

The IPPR found that the Kavango East Regional Council last submitted its audit reports in the 2017-2018 financial year.

The research also found that the council's website was dormant, and it has no social media accounts where the public could access its activities, including council meeting resolutions.

Maghambayi prefers that the IPPR visit the communities to see and feel the impact of the various projects implemented by the council.

"We have implemented a variety of projects in the region, starting with water and electricity. Mind you, we just received a letter from the Ministry of Mines and Energy saying that they are only looking at the existing projects to implement, but through the Regional Council, we are also implementing rural electrification programs in the region, and through the regional council, we are implementing a variety of rural water supply projects in the region. These are the ideas needed because we are now in a situation where human-wildlife conflict is also playing center stage amongst the people of the region, and this is the region that has also been statistically classified as one of the poorest regions, but why should our budget be cut?"

Maghambayi, however, believes the annual assessment will encourage regional councils to improve their transparency and accountability moving forward.

The IPPR report is expected to be published every year.

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Photo Credits
NBC Digital News
Author
Elizabeth Mwengo