Obrein Simasiku
Onanke
The Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Stanley Simataa, has called on councillors to work tirelessly in attracting developmental projects to rural areas where telecommunication infrastructure has been set up.
“I call upon leaders at the constituency and regional level to work very hard and draw investors and projects to these areas. There has been the tendency of using the convenient excuse of saying there are no network facilities – so you have to challenge them now,” he said.
He made the remarks when commissioning the MTC network tower at Onanke in Omuntele Constituency, Oshikoto Region, on Monday.
The installation of the 60-metre tower, which covers a radius of 20 kilometres, will now see the constituency receiving 100 percent network coverage.
The network was built through MTC’s 081Every1 project, which was launched in August, 2017 with the aim of constructing over 524 towers across the country
“The issue of network was a focal point among the communities when I was at this area (Onanke) few years ago. At the time I could not even have the courage to look them in the eye because I could see they were really left out. But now, I can confidently say poverty has been eradicated in the area in terms of access to telecommunication,” stated Simataa, equating the essentiality of network coverage to oxygen, saying it is very critical in the development of the country.
He appealed to communities in areas that still do not have coverage, or have poor network reception, to remain calm, as he himself comes from an area that does not have connectivity.
“Developing a country is a process and a journey which can be very slow at times, but we are all part of the plan to receive these connections in future.
“I would, therefore, not like to hear the education and health sector from Onanke singing the same tiring song of no resources as an excuse for not implementing the e-learning and e-health systems for effective service delivery and learning tools,” said the information
minister.
He also used the platform to warn some rotten apples within the community not to take advantage of the network and engage in organised crime since they can now easily interact.