Windhoek Mayor Job Amupanda has said the absence of a substantive chief executive officer (CEO) as head of administration for the city has a negative impact on the council’s transformational journey.

Amupanda made the remarks while addressing a virtual ordinary council meeting of the City of Windhoek (CoW) on Thursday.

He said the city council is busy “planting seeds of transformation”, which requires the whole leadership and everybody working for the municipality to work at the same pace in order to bring about the change the council wants. However, a substantive CEO is needed as head of administration to complement council efforts and implement services delivery projects like the adoption of pre-allocation of land to those who have been on council’s waiting list for years.

“We are in the process of recruiting a CEO, a key functionary of the Municipal Council of Windhoek, who will assist us to conceptualise and implement developmental plans, but the absence of a substantive head of administration has a negative impact on our transformation journey,” said Amupanda.

The mayor highlighted that part of the selection and vetting criteria for the CEO position will require candidates to make public presentations and take questions from the public, which seeks to negate and eliminate the “old culture” of clandestine dealings and suspicious recruitment practices of senior executives.

“We are not naïve. We are aware that we are not the only ones with the capacity and capability to plant seeds. We know that there are others who plant seeds of opposite nature; the seeds of corruption, the seeds to capture, the seeds of stagnation and regress,” stated Amupanda.

He urged councillors to remain vigilant and focused on the task at hand without being distracted by those against development and progress, “because the masses are counting on them to address their plight, which is the reason they trusted their promises and voted them into their positions.”

Source: Namibia Press Agency