Reagan Malumo
One thing that always welcomes every person advancing through the various gates to the Caprivi Region is the beauty of nature and its creation.
The fabulous vegetation that protrudes throughout the entire region establishes beautiful mansions of wild life and a unique culture of its inhabitants. When one visits its game reserves, one would never dare to stop fantasizing the uniqueness of African paradise. Those who have once been in this region would believe me, things speak for themselves, and you do not need anybody to explain to you how powerful the region is in terms of tourism. But unfortunately, as one advances further towards the heart of the region, one discovers the waste of the region’s unfortunate capital, Katima Mulilo. Those of you who have noticed how tourism can boost the economy of a place would take time to believe that a region such as Caprivi would have a town referred to as waste as is Katima Mulilo. We all have seen how neighbouring countries, such as Botswana, have some of their towns making progressive economic boosts out of the tourism sector alone.
It is a shame to witness that the leaders of Katima Mulilo Town Council have despite their repeated re-election year after year, lost their planning balance and failed to cope with the current trends of modernization. One person has identified them as “leaders in tinted goggles to shield them not from the sun rise, but from the visions of development”. I also tend to believe, especially when the time to bury their loved ones approaches, you would see them among those driving caskets in fancy cars to a bush which one would never dare to call the town’s cemetery, due to its resemblance to a dumping site.
Again, when driving through the roads and streets of Katima Mulilo, believe me, you ought to be careful because you are most likely to collide with a vehicle of one of the most respected leaders of the town council. This can happen not because you are mistaken but because the roads and streets are dilapidated into numerous potholes, and the only option is a narrow path next to the main road that both of you would opt to use no matter what direction of the road you are going. Just as if this is not enough, one good day, towards the evening hours, I had a chance to roam a dust-filled street that passes by the town council building. Hardly was I to notice that I was in for a nasty surprise – before my eyes was a place filled with lots of implements and vehicles staggering through a neglected open space without a fence. Thinking I was falling into an illusion, I decided to move closer and discerned a poor armless female security guard standing to watch over the place. I asked her what place was it; in a polite reply she said “It is a garage for the town council”.
But yet I noticed that no one among the town leaders would like to waste time on the safety of those vehicles and equipment worth millions of dollars. They cannot even sense the implication behind one frustrated tourist driving his car into lots of potholes of the town. Some of them even back off from the media and vow to leave in secrecy.
During her visit to Katima Mulilo early this year to inaugurate the handover of the Waterfront site, the Minister of Finance, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila cautioned leaders of the town to model the town to accommodate structures of international standards in order to attract investors and tourists. It is only by taking good heed of these sentiments that the town of Katima Mulilo and the region in particular would advance in development. It is high time that our leaders wake up, remove the tinted sunglasses shades and start working to improve the standard of the town of Katima Mulilo. This is the only way the town and its residents would taste the fruits of Vision 2030.
Eewa