By Elvis Muraranganda

Urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa has issued a stern warning to local authority councillors who are mismanaging public funds that financial management laws will haunt them even after they have served their terms. 
Sankwana added that it is not his duty to monitor how elected councillors are managing council funds but in the event that there is misuse of public money, the full wrath of the law will be felt. 
He said there are councils in place that are mandated with ensuring that resources are used prudently and not squandered on issues that do not have impact on the residents who voted for them. 
“To those who are defiant, there are laws in place that will deal with them. They will pay back that money, even if they are no longer councillors. If we find out that you owe money, we will come after you, wherever you are.”  The minister’s remarks come after he at the eleventh hour had to block eight City of Windhoek Councillors from travelling to Lesotho for the Southern African Inter Municipality Sports Association (SAIMA) games, almost pocketing over N$1 million in subsistence and travel (S&T) allowance in cash.  The money, was to be paid from the municipal coffers. The coucillors are Joseph Uapingene of NUDO, Austin Kwenani, Matheus Shoongo, Magdalena Lombardt of SWAPO and 
Popular Democratic Movement's Carolina Hanases as well as Landless People's Movement's Ivan Skrywer and Sade Gawanas.
A City insider told Confidente that: “The councillors wanted to go and watch the games only, they are not participating. They forced themselves on the trip because of the S&T. This is given the fact that this would have been the last trip before the elections and money was the driving force behind this.”  According the source, in normal circumstances, only the councillor responsible for sports accompanies the municipal team for games. Meanwhile, Sankwasa who disapproved the request by the councillors to travel for games, maintained that he had placed a ban on all foreign travels for all local authorities across the country. 
“I placed that ban for the councils to use whatever money they have for important issues and that is why all trips outside the country have to be approved by the minister,” explained Sankwasa.  The City of Windhoek public relations team did not respond to questions sent to them at the time of going to print. Joining the fray, social activist Shaun Gariseb said: “We are happy that the minister intervened and we have exposed were the priorities of City of Windhoek lay. Their response on spending over N$1.4 million on sports games on 130 officials is unbelievable. They did not deny anything because they know it is the truth. They justify it, yet they do not prioritize service delivery or budget for it.” Whistlebrowers have furtrher revealed to Confidente that the City's chief executive officer, Moses Matyayi has pocketed over N$300 000 in   four trips to Germany and Russia in the past months. When contacted for comment, Matyayi asked that questions be send to him, of which no response was received before print.