Andrew Kathindi
The Windhoek City Police has splashed N$13 million on the acquisition of new vehicles at time when government has advocated for spending cuts, while residents have complained of poor service delivery by the municipality.
City Police Chief, Abraham Kanime confirmed the acquisition of the vehicles which were purchased from funds availed by the Road Fund Administration (RFA).
“Even as we’re talking, we are still trying to see whether we can get money to buy more. We need mobility for us to deal with high road accidents. The vehicles that we are talking about are just for road safety. These are the ones bought with money given by the Road Fund Administration (RFA),” said Kanime.
He said for the City Police to meet its operational needs, it requires N$10-13 million annually for vehicles purchases.
“For the past few years, there were no cars purchased,” he said, although this is contrary to reports that the City had spent N$5 million last year on a fleet of five 2019 Volkswagen Golf VII GTi 2.0 TSi DSG vehicles.
Quizzed on whether he is concerned about the public outcry on public spending in the midst of a major national economic downturn, which ravaged the country even before COVID-19 outbreak, the City Police chief said, “I am not aware of an outcry. Do you mean we should even curtail our operation as far as public safety is concerned? The outcry is based on other issues, not this one.”
The delivery of the vehicles comes after President Hage Geingob last month placed a moratorium on the purchase of new vehicles for Executive and Public Office Bearers for the period 2020-2025 in a bid to save N$200 million. Kanime argued the president’s order did not extend to the Windhoek city police.
“The president is talking about the central government, not municipalities and we need vehicles. Law enforcement is about mobility and we are not covered by the order. Also, buying a vehicle is not like when you buy sweets, it’s a process. It would have been tendered for and delivered at a later date,” the City Police chief said, adding that the eight vehicles in question were already slated for purchase for the 2019/2020 financial year.
The acquisition of the City Police vehicles also comes as Khomas Regional Commander of Nampol; Joseph Shikongo told Windhoek Observer that the closure of shebeens because of the lockdown had eased the policing burden, including demands of logistics and manpower.
Please note it has come to our attention that the eight cars mentioned in our initial article as having been bought for N$13 million as per interview conducted with Windhoek City Police chief Abraham Kanime, was in actual fact an initial delivery, with more vehicles having been acquired under the scheme funded by the Road Fund Administration (RFA).
