OKAHANDJA – Founding Father of the Nation, Dr Sam Nujoma, has dismissed as false claims that the Swapo-led government does not know how to set its priorities for the benefit of all the people.
Over the years, in particular during the election years, opposition political parties have on several occasions accused Swapo of losing its focus and vision through poor service delivery.
“Contrary to those who are saying that the Swapo Party led-government does not know how to set priorities, the approach of our government has always been to focus on, and prioritise the delivery of basic public services, which are essential for the improvement of the living conditions of all our people,” Nujoma hit back while addressing a Swapo Party rally in Okahandja over the weekend.
He said government had consistently placed the provision of education, health care, housing, electricity and potable water at the centre of its service delivery strategies.
According to him, Swapo Party stands firm, as it has always done, to lead the country towards achieving victory in the second phase of the struggle for economic independence.
Nujoma said the Swapo-led government has over the past 24 years laid a solid foundation and established the necessary framework for democratic governance as well as put in place public institutions of the state.
“We have maintained peace, security and stability which in turn have ensured a conducive environment of basic services, which are essential for the improvement of the living conditions of all our people,” Nujoma said.
He highlighted some major achievements in Okahandja under the Swapo Party leadership which include the sewerage and water lines that were installed in Five Rand, Oshetu 1 and 2 as well as Saamstan informal settlements that cost N$9 million under the Government’s Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG).
Electricity installations, which will be switched on soon were also completed in Oshetu 1, 2 and 3 and Saamstan informal settlements to a tune of N$6 million from TIPEEG funds.
Other tangible results, he mentioned, are the recently inaugurated state of the art shopping mall, which had created employment opportunities for the youth.
Nujoma said the Swapo Party led-government is currently implementing the National Mass Housing Programme to address the housing backlog in the country, targeting and benefiting thousands of Namibians especially the low-income groups including those who live in informal settlements.
“In order to address the shortage of houses in the town of Okahandja and create employment opportunities for its residents, housing projects in extensions 6, 8 and 9 were successfully implemented. So far, 400 houses for middle income-earners have been completed,” he said.
Similarly, Extension 10 is earmarked to accommodate the mass housing project, which will be in its second phase next year and for this purpose N$6 million is budgeted to service land at Extension 10.
He said Okahandja will soon have a fully fledged central medical store and a state of the art laboratory that will make the town a distributing centre of medicines to all hospitals in Namibia.
“I am also reliably informed that all medical tests will now be done in the new laboratory and will not be sent to South Africa as in the past. Therefore I urge you to go in big numbers and vote overwhelmingly for the Swapo Party and its presidential candidate (Dr Hage Geingob) during the November Presidential and Parliamentary elections.”
Attesting to Nujoma’s successful stories was Okahandja Mayor Valerie Aron who said the party leadership had strategically positioned itself to ensure a stable political environment that will make it possible to attract investors who will create employment opportunities in Okahandja.
“As we all know every investor wants returns on their investments therefore an investor will not want to invest in a town that is not politically stable at all. A stable district will add more value to the attainment of our town’s economic freedom therefore, it must be a joint responsibility for all of us,” she said.