Dismissal of 2nd deputy mayor:

Fako SDO agrees to disagree with Tiko Councilors

The SDO ordered, to the disappointment of councilors, that a point on the proposed agenda of the council session concerning sanctions on the 2nd deputy mayor on allegations of looting, extortion and illegal sale of council property be removed from the agenda

By Ajongakou Santos in Tiko

Mayor Moukondo: “I will not let

Tiko Council to fall apart”

Intended to examine and validate the Administrative, Management and Stores Accounts the Tiko municipality for 2015, the first ordinary session of the Tiko Council for the 2016 financial year turned into a heated debate session between councilors of the municipality on the one hand and  the Senior Divisional Officer of Fako, Zang III, on the other hand. Holding on Saturday 4 June 2016, the session became heated as councilors would not heed a proposal by the Fako SDO for the resolutions of the last council session that took place on 7 December 2015 to be amended.

                During the 7 December 2015 session, councilors of the Tiko Municipality had moved that the Second Deputy Mayor of the Council be relieved of his duties. According to the councilors, the 2nd Deputy Mayor was guilty of looting council property, extorting money from users of council services and the sale of council property. 

                But when this was evoked during the session on Saturday, the SDO was categorical that the Second Deputy Mayor cannot be suspended or dismissed while investigations when he had not been proven guilty of wrong doing by a competent authority or institution. The SDO maintained that any sanction on the 2nd deputy can only come if the committee currently investigating his management issues a report that indicts him of wrong doing. Besides, Zang III, reminded the councilors that it is not within their competence to sanction their colleague and that only the Minister of Territorial Administration has the powers to suspend or relieve a sitting mayor of his duties.

                “If there are no proofs, then the matter should be dismissed. A man can only be sanctioned if there is clear proof of his guilt. There is a commission in place investigating the matter. It is only when the commission will issue its report that the matter would be deliberated in session,” Zang III stressed while rubbishing all councilors in support of the Deputy Mayor’s suspension.

                The SDO asked that any councilor(s) who want to challenge his position on the matter should leave the hall.

                For their part, some councilors who spoke to The Median explained that their insistence for the 2nd deputy to be sanctioned was because they wanted this to serve as a deterrent for future incrimination at the council. The councilors therefore did not conceal their disappointment with the SDO for blocking the sanction on the 2nd deputy mayor.

                The brawl took a different twist when the Mayor, Chief Daniel Moukondo, got into a verbal confrontation with a group of councilors who were challenging the SDO’s decision. Like the SDO, the Mayor insisted that a commission had been put in place to look into the situation and that the counselors should wait for the commission to issue its report.

                But many councilors grimaced at the Mayor’s volte face; they said the mayor who championed the cause for his 2nd deputy to be sanctioned had suddenly changed his stance and was now now against sanctions. The councilors said this is evidence that the mayor did not care for the general interest but was only out to save his face with the SDO.

                Meanwhile, the Mayor presented the issues proposed during the 2015 financial year, how they have been executed so far, and the shortcomings. To Mayor Moukondo, the council’s 2015 Administrative report shows that all 35 projects proposed were 100% successful. Amongst them was the rehabilitation of the Likomba roundabout, the electrification of the Tiko municipality, the construction of two classrooms at Government School Mondoni, and the bulldozing of dumping sites.

                The Fako SDO noticed some increase recorded, noting that total revenue collected as opposed to 2015 witnessed an increase of 23%; fiscal revenue witnessed an increase of 20%, while additional taxes also witnessed an increase of 36%.

                However despite the apparent success recorded by the council, there is still the problem of outstanding salaries for personnel since 2008, 2009 and 2012.

                The session also saw the presence of the D.O of Tiko, and traditional, political and religious authorities.