Knives out for Andowa and MutotaRegional Council officials suspended An investigation into alleged mismanagement of funds by the chief regional officer and deputy director of finance of the Omusati Regional Council has been concluded. ILENI NANDJATOSuspended top officials at Omusati Regional Council will hear their fate next week, following the endorsement of their suspension by the Public Service Commission.
The chairperson of the regional council, Modestus Amutse, told Namibian Sun yesterday that after consultation with the commission last month, the commission endorsed the council''s decision to suspend its chief regional officer, Protasius Andowa, and deputy director of finance, Elizabeth Mutota, to pave the way for an investigation.
"The investigation team is done with its work and their findings will be presented to the full council meeting next week. It will be after that meeting that the council will decide whether to charge them or not. Currently, there are no charges against the two," Amutse said.
He said there has been no deliberation on the matter, but he could not divulge any information on why the two were suspended. He only said that it concerned a serious of mismanagement of council money from as far back as 2012.
"We requested our line ministry to assign us with a team of investigators. They sent us a team headed by the Urban and Rural Development Ministry’s chief auditor," Amutse said.
Namibian Sun has been reliably informed that Andowa and Mutota''s mismanagement of money came to light after they failed to explain how the council had spent N$12.3 million that the council had borrowed from the line ministry to finance projects.
According to the source, the two gave false information to the governor that was used during his state of the region address.
On 24 August, the Public Service Commission wrote a letter to Amutse instructing him to reinstate the two officials. After consultation with Amutse, the commission endorsed the suspension.