Kapako
The leader of the Mbunza tribe of Kavango West, Hompa Alfons Kaundu, wants government through the Kavango West Regional Council to bring basic services closer to the people.
Topping his list of priorities is a a fully-fledged police station to curb crime at Bunya village.
Kaundu was speaking at his palace at Kapako yesterday, when the Governor of Kavango West, Sirkka Ausiku, together with the Kavango West Regional Council held a consultative meeting with various stakeholders to discuss regional developmental issues.
“In the development discussions the traditional leaders should not be excluded because they are the ones to provide land for development, thus we need to be included because as projects come we will be able to allocate the land.”
“I want services brought closer to the people, so that people of Mbunza don’t have to go all the way to Nkurenkuru for services. We want agriculture, police and health services near to people, including offices of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare,” he said.
Kaundu said that when crime occurs the police have to be called from Kahenge which is more than 80km away, but by the time the police arrive the culprits have already run away or the damage has been done.
“Even when people are involved in accidents it’s difficult because by the time the police come some things have gone wrong, so our aim is to have the police closer at Bunya because Kahenge is too far,” the hompa said.
Kavango West Region has two traditional authorities whose focus is to solve problems they currently face, like in Mbunza area in Kapako Constituency, where there are high rates of poverty. That is why the community wants to work with the regional council in solving its problems.
Interactive cooperation, the people say, will help solve the poverty dilemma they face as a region.
Kaundu says if there are development projects they must collectively see that the entire region benefits, not only one side of Kavango West, and they must see what projects are planned for the region and also see where to put those projects.
The hompa urged the regional leadership that visited his palace to employ capable servants who will work in the interest of Kavango West and deliver effective services.
Kavango West Governor Sikka Ausiku is having consultative meetings with regional stakeholders in the region to draw input from stakeholders, including the traditional authorities, as the region is developing a regional development plan.
Ausiku started with the Mbunza Traditional Authority and today the governor and officials from the regional council will visit the leader of the Ukwangali tribe, Hompa Eugen Siwombe Kudumo. The meeting will be held at Kahenge tribal office, on the eastern outskirts of Nkurenkuru.