The Association of Local Authorities of Namibia (ALAN) says it will lobby for another increment of local authority councillors’ allowances next year.
This is despite the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development last month approving between 15% and 25% increments in allowances for mayors and councillors, below the 50% that the Association had demanded.
“We are not ending here, we shall continue fighting for the councillor’s allowances to be adjusted up to the desired rate, this is our task for next year,” ALAN’s Vice President Hilde Jesaya said.
“We are, however, not condemning the ministry’s decision because it is better than nothing. Our councillors are happy with the little received, but that is not enough, hence we are going to continue engaging the ministry so that the allowance can be increased again to better their [councillor] conditions,” she added.
Urban and Rural Development Executive Director Daniel Nghidinua last month announced that the Minister, Erastus Uutoni, granted approval for 15% (municipal council) 20% (town council) and 25% (village council) increases in the monthly allowances.
The increases also include the introduction of additional airtime allowances for other councillors and sitting allowances for members of municipal, town and village councils, with effect from 1 July 2023.
The sitting allowances will be applicable to Management Committee (MC), Ordinary/Extraordinary meetings and Special Council meetings.
“However, the purchasing amount of a cell phone remains at N$4,000 and that is applicable to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, the Chairperson of the MC and Chairpersons of Village Councils only; while the rest of the Councillors will receive airtime allowances,” Nghidinua said adding that the local authorities will make a budget provision during the 2023-2024 financial year to cater for the adjustments.
The increase comes as the ALAN which had in the past proposed a salary increment of 50%.
On that proposition, the Association wanted a yearly allowance of N$125,742 for chairpersons of MCs, and N$114,313 for ordinary council members.
For town councils, ALAN recommended N$116,250 for a Mayor, N$104,626 for a deputy mayor and N$108,499 in annual allowances for management committee chairpersons.
The Association also wanted ordinary councillors serving in town councils to receive a yearly allowance of N$96,876, instead of the current N$64,584.
With the new adjustments, a mayor of a municipal council will now receive N$102,246 per annum, deputy mayor and MC members will receive N$93,480, whereas an MC chairperson gets N$96,402, while ordinary councillors will now rake in N$87,636.
A town council mayor will receive N$93,000, followed by the management committee chairperson at N$86,796, with the deputy mayor hovering at N$83,000. MC members and ordinary councillors will each get N$80,604 and N$77,496, respectively.
In the same vein, a village council chairperson takes home a yearly salary of N$57,180, while the deputy will be salaried N$50,460, and N$43,728 for ordinary members.
On the previous scale, a mayor received an annual allowance of N$88,910, a deputy mayor N$81,289, a management committee chairperson N$83,828, and the management committee members N$81,289, whereas ordinary council members receive N$76,209.
Town council mayors were paid N$77,500, the deputy mayor N$69,751, the management committee chairperson N$72,333, the management committee members N$67,167, while ordinary council members receive N$64,584.
Village council chairpersons received a yearly allowance of N$45,746, with the vice chairperson getting N$40,364, while ordinary members received an annual allowance of N$34,982.
