Staff Writer
The City of Windhoek (CoW) says it does not hold a 5G licence and has never applied for one with Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN).
The announcement by the municipality comes after CoW has been accused of having engaged Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei to partner in the role out of the fifth generation technology standard under its ambitious smart city initiative.
“Council has never applied for a 5G Spectrum License with CRAN. You need a specific Spectrum License to operate a 5G network. There exist no 5G project approved by Council at the City of Windhoek and Council hasn’t approved an MOU with Huawei,” CoW Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kahimise said.
He said the municipality had never entered into any agreement with Huawei regarding its plans.
“There exists no relationship or Join Business Venture Agreement between City of Windhoek and Huawei. No such proposal was submitted to Council for consideration or approval,” Kahimise said.
The planned implementation of the smart city initiative has cause fracas in the municipality amid accusation that CoW had planned to pay Lawyer, Uanivi Gaes N$10 million for his services as an advisor to the initiative, a position which Kahimise denied.
“Uanivi Gaes was appointed through a procurement process in line with the Public Procurement Act (Act No. 15 of 2015) and is on the panel of lawyers for the City of Windhoek. Uanivi-Gaes was subsequently appointed as the transactional advisor from the panel for the monetisation of the City of Windhoek’s Optic Fibre and the enablement of the smart city services through the Information Communication Technology department. A purchase order was issued in order to commit budgetary funds. A purchase order is not a payment; it is merely an official confirmation of an order,” he said.
“City of Windhoek herewith wishes to clarify that no work has been completed for N$10 million and hence this assertion is devoid of any truth. The purpose of the order was to ensure that these funds are committed for this project and would not be cancelled during the transition to the new financial year. These services were procured through an appropriate procurement process. This order was for the purpose of reservation of the funds for the work that needs to be completed with respect to the Smart City Project through its appointed transactional advisor.”
“It is important to note that the smart city project is aimed at breaching the digital divide that has systematically evolved over the years to such an extent that the majority of our people do not have access to the benefits derived from the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution. It is time for our communities to be included and not only a select few using shrewd means to destroy such interventions in their own interests.”
He said although the The City is aware of various allegations circulating on social media regarding its executives, “We will pronounce ourselves once concrete facts have been obtained. In the meantime, we encourage the public not to speculate and engage in rumor mongering.”
Currently, CoW’s recently awarded Class Comprehensive Telecommunications Service Licence is under review by CRAN amid objections from mobile operator, MTC and Paratus Africa.
Meanwhile the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) has announced that it will institute an internal investigation regarding allegations made by one of its councilors against city officials involved in the smart city roll-out that may involve one of its members.
