Windhoek
Members of the Namibian Catholic Bishops Conference said as far as the church partnership with the government is concerned there is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in place especially in the area of education and health, but the implementation thereof is poorly executed, below expectation and needs further negotiation for it to be effective.
Archbishop Liborius Nashenda who led the delegation that met President Hage Geingob on Wednesday said the Catholic Church is making its contribution to the national execution of different programmes. “We complement your good efforts through the areas of education and health although it is the responsibility of the State. We also would like to express our contributions as far as health is concerned through our hospitals, health centres, clinics and through Catholic Aids Action Programme which is a church prevention programme on HIV/AIDS,” said Nashenda.
“The implementation of the MoU through the ministry of health is poorly executed and below our expectation. The much-valued subsidy from the government in the fields of education is much appreciated. It is doing very good and we are getting good support. In the health sector we should improve,” said the archbishop.
The Minister of Education Katrina Hanse-Himarwa who was also present said the government gives financial support to 22 church-run schools in nine regions to the tune of N$7 million a year. “That is not all. We have a memorandum of understanding since 2011 whereby we pay salaries of some teachers. I think there is much to be done to strengthen this cooperation,” elaborated the education minister. The Catholic Church operates 40 kindergartens, 27 hostels, 19 primary schools, 7 secondary schools, 4 hospitals, 5 health centres and 7 clinics around the country. She said the pressure is mounting on government schools since the abolishment of school fees, the latter putting much strain on meagre resources.
”We are observing more children coming from private schools back to state schools. We have private schools and semi-private schools that we subsidise by up to N$20 million annually,” she said.
Geingob said there is no question about the contribution from the Catholic Church.
As a gesture of humanity he said health facilities must refrain from asking money beforehand when critically ill people turn up to be admitted. He said he was made aware of two incidents whereby critically ill people were turned away as they could not pay or they could not produce any medical aid insurance.
“On two occasions I was there and in one case it was somebody coming from Omaheke. It is understandable to maintain those standards. People have to pay but that person did not have a credit card or something required to pay for admission. It touched me when they were not admitted. These people come from Gobabis area. They wrote me a letter after I intervened and I said please allow them. Take care of a person who is sick as they came with an ambulance, it could be an emergency. Admit them, you can talk about money later,” Geingob noted.
Among those in attendance at State House were the Vice-President Dr Nickey Iyambo, the Prime Minister Saara Kuungongelwa-Amadhila, the Minister of Health and Social Services Dr Bernard Hausiku and the Minister of Education, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa.