WINDHOEK – Ruacana Constituency Councillor Absta Iipinge has appealed to government to provide the community with an extra truck to speed up the food relief distribution process.
The concerned councillor said the distribution process within Ruacana constituency has ground to a halt and some intended recipients have not received drought food assistance since June.
“We only have one truck in our constituency and it takes about two to three months to distribute food to the registered recipients in the area,” said Iipinge.
Iipinge said that since President Pohamba declared the drought as an emergency the community only received 2 100 bags of maize meal which is “too little” for the 10 000 residents.
“The 2 100 bags were only distributed in six villages while we have more villages that need food, hence people will be left without food,” he stressed in an interview with New Era. He said another reason they need a second truck is because they are following the nomadic Ovahimba and Ovatjimba who constantly move in search of food and water for their animals.
Iipinge also blamed the supplier for taking “too long” to deliver food saying that Omusati and Oshana regions have only one supplier, thus there is a constraint in delivering food to the constituency warehouse.
He further noted that although they received enough relish they cannot distribute relish without maize meal.
By Loide Jason