Windhoek hires forensic auditors over bills’ saga
• By Kaipaherue Kandjii
The City of Windhoek has lodged an independent forensic audit in a controversial bribery scandal to inflate or delete debtors’ water or electricity monthly bills for payment. Just a week ago, hordes of residents from all walks of life stormed the Katutura Police station to open criminal cases after a secret internal memo from the city confirmed suspicions of the syndicate. The residents, led by community activist Shaun Gariseb, accused five unnamed top officials within various departments of the CoW, mainly information and technology (IT), of being the bigwigs.
The bone of contention is a new billing system known as Solar, used by unknown ‘internal’ officials to unduly add or deduct monies from specific accounts in exchange for bribes. “If your municipality account has escalated suspiciously in the past three years, please make your way to Windhoek police station on Saturday, 13 July 2024 [at] 09h00. Senior police officers advise us to open more criminal cases individually against the heads of debt management, the head of finance, the acting CEO from 2022 to 2023, the executive secretary of the ICT department, and the head of the council in 2023.
This is because these people knowingly allowed a defective system to add unduly money to your accounts; the same people have refused to cooperate with the ACC and competitions competition. They gave a directive that no one must question or send emails about the system; even front desk staff aren’t allowed to talk about the defective billing system. Just bring your statements reflecting these suspicious amounts,” said Gariseb. An inquiry in the form of written questions to ascertain the nature of the charges has been met with silence by the Namibian Police (NamPol)
This publication sought such a response from the police head of public relations, Kauna Shikwambi, but to no avail. Gariseb remains in hot pursuit of justice, saying the city’s top brass knowingly allowed the use of a defective system to “steal” from desperate residents. Upon inquiry by this publication, the city confessed to the scandal and said it appears bigger than they initially thought. Its spokesperson, Lydia Amutenya, told Confidente that ‘internal controls’ identified irregularities in some accounts within their billing system.
“[The] preliminary investigations show that these irregularities may be more than initially thought. “Given the seriousness of the situation, we have engaged external investigators to conduct a forensic investigation. “This matter has our urgent attention, and we are committed to resolving it with the highest level of professionalism,” said Amutenya. Gariseb remains unfazed, saying the city should have acknowledged the problem and instead ripped in debt collectors to obtain what they did not diligently earn.
“We have a strong case, and more evidence can last us until next year if it were electricity units. They have stolen your money and kept it a secret through this billing system. Only three people in the city are allowed to deal with the fraudulent billing system. The attached evidence shows they admit that this system was robbing us, and they are aware of it, yet they handed some over to Redforce [Debt Collection agency], causing more financial burden and stress. “Now we understand why CoW never wants to give complete debt history, and [to] explain [the] interest calculation [kn our monthly municipal statements], something we have been asking for over two years. “This is thievery and fraud; some people have taken loans to pay excessive amounts they are charged without explanation; some have died of depression, we have reported this person everywhere, even to the President; we are in court also but they are just evasive, non-cooperative, they lied through financial reports to the Auditor General, and are undermining the Ombudsman, but we will make his job easier,” the activist lashed.
Amutenya refused to explain when asked if any officials implicated in the saga have since been suspended to allow an independent probe. She also did not respond to questions about whether they intend to lodge any criminal cases on their part against the suspects. “Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, we are unable to disclose further details at this time to preserve the integrity and quality of the process. “We assure our residents that this issue is being handled meticulously. The outcome of the investigation will guide our subsequent actions and any necessary corrective measures.
“We encourage any residents with concerns or irregularities in their accounts to report them directly to our Customer Contact Centre,” she maintained. An internal correspondence in February between the head of the IT department and the head of finance, Jennifer Comalie and CEO Moses Matyayi shed light on the scandal.
“In November last year we discovered some irregularities on account 10242422, where receipt [no] #32756 with amount paid N$ 5000.00 dated 26 April 2023 was imported into [the] Solar [billing system] on [the] 27 April 2023. This transaction does not reflect on the account. The same receipt number is reflecting on a different date, 05 August 2023, but with a different amount of N$ 35 826.02,” the letter reads. At the time, the IT department informed the CEO that the anomalies were detected on eight different accounts. Gariseb hastened to add that this fraud’s implications cut very deep, particularly for struggling residents whose houses are hanging on a thread of being dispossessed due to debts.
“A pensioner in Malaka Draai [residential area in Katutura] owes N$ 400 000 for no reason and he pays N$ 2500 every month consistently. His case is in court, the eight accounts that appear on the memorandum some [debtors] have paid because they did not know [how] one [person] is still owing N$ 25 000 and the other N$ 21 000 [which are] all fraudulently accumulated figures under a defective billing system,” he claimed. The residents staged a demonstration against the issues, demanding transparency and accountability from the city.