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 As head of the political wing of the FCC, Ngoma and his team of councillors have been at pains to explain what happened to the multi-million projects. After promising vital services to the city dwellers, “the team of 1999” - as the current councillors are known - seem bound to leave “failed projects” after five years. Interestingly, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)-dominated FCC has since owned up to its blunders. Unless they get nominated, Ngoma and Sengalo would miss the opportunity to come back and explain the failures after losing the party’s primary elections.
It came as no surprise late last year, when one of the ruling party councillors, Gerald Mbi, confessed in a full council meeting that the “team of 1999” has failed to deliver. Mbi, who is seeking re-election to the council in this year’s elections under the BDP ticket, observed: “As councillors, we have failed the electorate. We have spent five full years debating a single issue as we were either attacking the area District Commissioner, Sylvia Muzila over the issue of protocol or debating the failed FCC projects without suggesting a way forward”. Some of his colleagues bought his story outright and supported his view. It was painful as councillors confessed their shortcomings.
Botswana Peoples’ Party (BPP) councillor for Somerset-West, Motlatsi Molapisi, laid the blame on Ngoma saying that he has the supervisory power to ensure that council projects are executed accordingly. “You will remember that these are the projects that were recommended by the council at different stages. The unfortunate thing with the FCC is that the mayor and the council staff left the completion of the projects in the hands of the consultants and the contractors,” said Molapisi, a former city mayor. “In our case, the mayor and the council administration headed by the City Clerk, thought the wisest thing to do would be to wait, until they were handed the keys on completion of the projects without ensuring that the right things were done,” he stressed.
When contacted for comment on the issue, Ngoma, was hopeful that things would improve. His hope stems from the fact that the bus rank would be finished before the end of the year, as a new contractor has been identified. The same applies to the Tatitown Primary School, which is also nearing completion. Already, some of the school buildings are in use. Ngoma said the Donga project was terminated and the FCC is yet to issue a new tender though an application for further funding has been made to central government.
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