… defends Dr Namwandi
WINDHOEK – The Ministry of Education has expressed disappointment over a weekly news report that claimed the ministry shelved plans initiated by the late Dr Abraham Iyambo, who used to be the minister of education before his demise.
The weekly claimed it has recently emerged that the incumbent Minister of Education Dr David Namwandi cancelled a trip by education officials to Kenya to sign an agreement on a programme of cooperation between the two countries in July this year.
The programme designed by education authorities in Kenya is known as the Youth Dropout Apprenticeship Salvage Programme (YDASP) and is supposed to cater to Grade 10 and 12 dropouts. “Sources in the ministry say that before the former Education Minister Abraham Iyambo passed away, he had given the go ahead for the programme and seconded Permanent Secretary Alfred Ilukena to finalise details,” according to the news report. The YDASP also focuses on training youths in the fields of electrical, mechanical, water and sewage engineering, medical laboratory and food technology, according to the weekly.
The Overseas Training and Education Consultancy working in conjunction with the Kenyan government first proposed the programme to the late Minister Iyambo in September last year (2012).
“The delegation of Namibian officials should have travelled to Kenya in July this year to decide on details of the agreement between the two countries for a pilot project that was supposed to start with 1 000 Namibian youths.
“Just as the Namibian delegation planned to travel to Kenya for a meeting between Ilukena and the Kenya delegation, Namwandi pulled the plug,” the weekly further claimed. Alfred Iilukena the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education said his ministry “has established a strong and effective communication platform with progressive media institutions to make sure that members of the public are fully and correctly informed about the activities of the ministry.”
“The Ministry would like to firstly express our disappointment in the Windhoek Observer newspaper on the story it published on Friday, 29 November under the headline, “Namwandi shelves Iyambo’s plans,” Iilukena said.
“The story is not at all reflective of the truth; hence it is biased and the Ministry condemns the news article. The allegations in the report are false; the Minister of Education has not shelved any plans of the Ministry,” stressed Iilukena.
“It is unfortunate that the journalist decided to draw in the article, for reasons better known to them, the late Minister of Education, Dr. Abraham Iyambo. The late Minister of Education, Dr Abraham Iyambo was never part of the proposed training of the grade ten dropouts’ proposal discussions as reported,” he said.
“Yes, the current Minister of Education, Dr David Namwandi earlier this year instructed the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry to postpone the visit to Kenya in order to follow up on the proposal by the Kenyan agents,” he said in a media release.
“This was done to ensure that the proposal was genuine, in order to protect the learners from unscrupulous education providers. The purpose of putting the trip on hold was to enlighten the Permanent Secretary on the course of action to take on the visit to Kenya,” clarified Iilikuna.
“At the time, the Minister was in Malaysia to resolve problems of the students studying at one tertiary institution, whose programmes were not accredited in Malaysia,” he further elaborated.
“The Ministry would also like to set the record straight that the proposal to train the grade ten dropouts was not the initiative of the Kenyan government but of a private agent. At a meeting with the agent, the then Deputy Minister of Education, now the Minister of Education, Dr. David Namwandi jokingly told the agent that the proposal was too good to be true,” Iilukena said.
“However, the provision was made to discuss the matter with the Kenyan High Commissioner as well as the Kenyan line Ministry. It should be noted that late last year and early this year, there were numerous political and other activities both in Namibia and Kenya,” he said.
“It is very strange that the journalist opted to use anonymous sources rather than verifying the facts with the Minister.”
By Staff Reporter