Windhoek
Residents of Windhoek’s Moses //Garoëb Constituency are not happy with this year’s registration of vulnerable children saying the three days for registration were not sufficient.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare is conducting its annual registration of vulnerable children across the country for the monthly social grant of N$250.
Residents say the three days the ministry’s officials spent in the constituency were too few to accommodate all aspirants, although they welcomed the grant as a good initiative by the government.
When New Era visited the area last week, throngs of people could be seen scuffling for a place in the queue to enter the constituency office to register.
One of the residents Titus Shigwedha, a father of three who spoke on behalf of other parents, said he only managed to register on the second day of registration and had to get up at 2am.
The registration started last week Tuesday and ended on Thursday.
“If I didn’t come here at 3am I would still be in the long queue to register, as the first time I didn’t manage. The ministry should extend this registration at least for two or three weeks – then everyone can be accommodated. I pity the ones still in the queue,” said Shigwedha.
Lack of staff was another concern for Shigwedha as there were only two officials on duty. “They should increase their staff if they don’t want to extend the time frame of registration otherwise all people will not finish registering. I don’t know why they didn’t put up at least three registration points like how it’s done during elections, that way it was going to be much faster,” he said.
However, David Martin the constituency councillor said such developments are of importance and crucial to the community as the constituency is awash with poverty. “More of these developments should come to this constituency, the people are suffering this side therefore this social grant will be a relief to them,” said Martin.
The registration started last month with Tobias Hainyeko Constituency residents the first to register followed by Moses //Garoëb. The registration will run until August 2015 covering all 10 constituencies in Khomas Region.