Denver Isaacs
15 April 2008
Windhoek — The position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Okahandja Municipality might soon be in new hands, after the town council management earlier this month decided not to renew the contract of current CEO Regina Alugodhi.
Alugodhi's five-year contract with the municipality expires at the end of June, in accordance with the Local Authority Act. It is understood that the decision to remove her was taken at a management committee meeting earlier this month, where the majority of the committee members voted against another five-year term for Alugodhi. Municipal sources indicated that there was unhappiness among councillors with the embattled CEO's performance during her current term. Minutes taken during the April 3 meeting recorded councillors blaming her for the fact that the majority of the municipality's workforce are employed without any appointment letters, while Alugodhi herself is said to be working without a proper contract.
"If the CEO, who is the chief administrator and who should see to it that the HR department should make sure that the above-mentioned documents are in place, only has an appointment letter in her file, and if 80 per cent of the workforce do not have appointment letters, then the CEO did not do a proper job throughout her five-year term," one of the councillors was quoted as saying. The council then decided that the CEO post be advertised, and Alughodhi was informed of the decision in a letter dated a day later, on April 4. Claims by irate sources at the town that a number of Okahandja councillors were ordered to meet at the Swapo Regional offices in Otjiwarongo yesterday for discussions around a possible backtracking on their decision could not be confirmed. Sources spoken to there, including Mayor Paul Frederick Damaseb, said yesterday that they were aware of these rumours, but were not able to confirm this.
The Swapo Party Regional Coordinator for Otjozondjupa, Otto Ipinge, who was said to have called the meeting, yesterday denied knowledge of such a meeting. "Maybe you should go back to the person who told you that. I'm not aware of it," he said. Alugodhi herself could not be reached for comment yesterday.
She had not reported to her office, and calls to her cellphone remained unanswered throughout the day.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
