Local authority governance is a complex task in predominantly impoverished Namibian communities. It’s a simple looking but pretty tough business.
The question remains if local authorities make significant improvements in the lives of communities in Namibia. Is provision of housing, sanitation, water, public facilities etc improving?
Municipal management like in any other organization depends on its council to provide it with direction and the councillors need to understand what their leadership role entails.
The quality of leadership in local authority governance lies in the vision of the council provided it is in the interest of the community, ethical in its implementation and developed in a transparent and consultative manner.
Councillors more often intentionally or unintentionally fail their communities (electorate) because they find it hard to balance the demand of the poor with corporate governance principles. The communities (electorate) on the contrary also fail their councillors because they do not advise or communicate their dissatisfaction with the performance of their councillors through peaceful and effective means. Communities instead resort to mass demonstration to express their dissatisfaction with the performance of their councils.
It is also true that members of the community often fear to complain about poor service because a person could be singled out as unpatriotic, rebellious opposition. As a result nobody dare to question the system. Suggestions from members of the community for improvement of services are construed as somebody trying to take over the mandate of the elected council. All these are challenges elected leaders need to overcome.
Grassroots level of governance is a tough challenge in African societies. Elected leaders are faced by sometimes restraining rules to go by, laws to comply with, and meagre resources to improve the quality of life of their people. On the other hand they see gross majority of the community suffocating in severe poverty. Yes, it is not easy to occupy public office, especially at local authority level. It’s a simple looking but pretty tough business.
In my own view and against the performance expectations of local authorities in global trends, it is imperative that there should be national basic qualifying criteria for community members to stand as candidate for local authority council elections of which one should be to appreciate the importance of ICT and business mindset in governance. Grassroots level governance, it looks simple but it is tough business.
Gruzi Goseb
