Our Star of the Week is Sirkka Ausiku, the Governor of Kavango West, because of her well-prepared and comprehensive state of the region address that was well received across the political and social spectrum. During her address in the Nkurenkuru Community Hall she said the response to her request for offices, ministries and agencies (OMAs) to set up offices to better attend to the people of Kavango West Region has been like a moving snail.
“In my state of the region address last year I stated the region lacks services, and we expected offices, ministries and agencies and other institutions to have set up offices in Nkurenkuru by now. However, to date the process has been observed to be painstakingly slow,” Ausiku said.
Ausiku further reported that Kavango West in general lacks information on programmes of government and other institutions in the region.
Ausiku said the region needs banking services as it only has two commercial banks, namely Standard Bank and Bank Windhoek, with one ATM each.
The region wants more banking services for its inhabitants because of business that is booming.
Ausiku further said that due to a lack of senior government officials in the region it is difficult to get information from OMAs in order for her office to monitor progress on the implementation of government projects.
“It is still centrally based, hence we don’t know how much was allocated to our region. This has to change. Last year I appealed to the central government to allocate the operational budget per region to enable the regional leadership to follow up on how our funds are being utilised, but nothing has been done to date,” she stressed.
Ausiku further highlighted the progress and setbacks of Kavango West Regional Council, Nkurenkuru Town Council and the ministries and institutions in the Kavango West Region. She praised the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry for installing numerous boreholes for the masses.