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The role of officeholders, i.e. Councillors, in administrative affairs and the awarding of bids (tenders) is often the subject of intense public scrutiny and conjecture.
Councillors are primarily guided in their duties by the Local Authorities Act, 1992 (Act No. 23 of 1992), which has been amended a number of times. The most recent amendment of the act was promulgated in 2018, i.e. Local Authorities Act, 2018, Act No. 3 of 2018.
In terms of the Act, together with the Code of Conduct for Members of Local Authority Councils, as prescribed under Section 10(3) of the Local Authorities Act, 1992 (Act No.23 of 1992), the Chief Executive Officer of the local authority council shall be responsible for the administration of the affairs of the local authority council. According to the Code, individual council members have no administrative or executive powers in the operation of a council.
It would therefore be incorrect to suggest that Councillors would be responsible for purely administrative operations such as transferring of staff members between departments, or appointing staff in acting positions.
The deployment of staff in particular positions is the prerogative of the Chief Executive Officer, and solely for the benefit of the organization to deliver the best possible services to all its customers. There are specific procedures and policies in place for this purpose.
Correspondingly, the Public Procurement Act, 2015, Act No. 15 of 2015, prohibits local authority members from participating in any of the functions or bodies provided for under the Act, such as procurement management units, bid evaluation committees, or procurement committees.
Thus, local authority members are not involved in any stage of the bidding process. These functions are performed administratively, and final awards are signed off by the Chief Executive Officer as Accounting Officer. It would therefore also be incorrect to assume that council members are responsible for awarding bids to any providers of goods, works or services. Moreover, the staff members of the Procurement Management Unit are not involved in the awarding of bids in any way and fulfill an administrative and oversight role only.
Any member of the public who needs clarity on any issues pertaining to the operations of Council, or the awarding of bids is free to contact the Municipality’s Public Relations desk via pr@walvisbaycc.org.na to seek more clarity on any of the issues raised above.
