27 Jan 2015

Office of the district commissioner is considering to abolish trust boards and replace them with a different management model that will safeguard public funds.

Maun acting district commissioner, Mr Keabetswe Lesiela said this during a meeting called by Member of Parliament for Maun East, Mr Konstatinos Markus to familiarise himself with head of departments and to appreciate their concerns and challenges from their respective departments.

He said community trusts were not functioning well because of mismanagement of funds by boards, adding that they had realised that board members put their interests first hence trusts funds benefitted a few , thereby leaving out the community. 

He said the boards were failing to represent the community’s needs and aspirations diligently, noting that most of the trusts in Ngamiland generated millions and most of their future seemed bleak because of funds embezzlement by boards.

Mr Lesiela said there was a lot of maladministration in trusts as some fired top management without following the right procedures.  He said it was disturbing as the boards did not want to listen to advice from his office hence “we consider a decision to dissolve boards because they are giving us head ache”.

The acting district commissioner said the situation was exacerbated by some members’ attitudes and differences towards the running of trusts.  He said trusts in Chobe region were doing exceptionally well in funds management.

Maun Administration Authority district commissioner, Ms Angelinah Leano shared the same sentiments, noting that the trust funds were not benefiting the communities as it was expected. She said efforts to address trusts officials bore no fruits. 

She said one of the trusts’ biggest focal areas was to work towards their own community developments and to teach people income generating schemes and other livelihood activities.

The trust aimed to empower communities to become self-reliant and improve their standards of living.  Ms Leano also raised a concern to the MP about some parents who sell their residential plots without consulting their children.

She urged him to appeal to the communities to desist from the temptation of selling them because that would defeat government’s agenda of empowering them, noting that it also impact negatively on the children as they were left homeless.

She said it is now a trend particularly amongst parents to sell their plots and go out to stay with their love ones when the relationship went sour they come back to her office to seek a covering letter for a new plot allocation.

“We are always busy with issues of sold plots on daily basis and that is disturbing because it creates conflicts within families,” she added.

On other issues, acting District Commissioner, Mr Lesiela expressed disappointment about uptake of poverty eradication projects, noting that they were experiencing lack of commitment and general teething problems.

He said some beneficiaries abandon projects while others. For his part, Mr Markus said he visited several villages and was informed that most trusts were not operating due to financial constraints. 

He said the trusts had indicated that they had suspended community development projects which were in the pipeline due to financial constraints.

The trusts are said to be experiencing challenges of generating income since the relocation from consumptive tourism to non-consumptive tourism.

Mr Markus said he is aware of challenges faced by trusts management such as fights and misuse of funds and wished a solution could be found so that the communities benefit. ENDS