Sakaria Kadhikwa
Windhoek-Addressing the high rate of unemployment in the country has become a top priority for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) and is among the church’s list of obstacles that are slowing down development in the country.
“The church has placed joblessness on top the list of issues, because we regard it as the major source of many other social ills,” ELCIN Bishop Shekutamba Nambala said on Sunday when he addressed a packed Hosianna Parish in Windhoek on the challenges facing society.
Dr Nambala said because of high rate of unemployment among the youth, young people now have ample time to idle about and hatch criminal schemes that might lead them to theft, alcohol abuse and drugs.
He says such behaviour does not auger well for the development of Namibia, especially when the youth who are future leaders are growing up in a desperate situation without productive work.
Nambala warned that the youth who are full of energy might resort to crime and other social ills because they believe they are able to outrun the law. He noted that older people are also tempted to engage in such behaviour, but because of age, their modus operandi will differ, as they tend to take resources they are entrusted with by way of corrupt means.
Nambala lamented the rising cost of housing, especially in urban areas.
“People who live in urban areas many are only there for work and need a place to stay, not necessarily a plot to build a house on. Many of them have homes in their villages, farms at their cattle posts and fields,” the leader of ELCIN observed.
He suggested that the State should build affordable accommodation for such people.
He further observed with concern what he believes is a waste of public resources channeled to the Public Service Medical Aid Scheme (PSEMAS).
“Do members of that Fund pay for medical treatment at Katutura State Hospital, or any other state facility? No this money is paid to private individual clinics, instead of returning it to government by paying state medical facilities and in that way this fund will revolve in the public kitty and not enrich a few individuals,” Nambala noted.
Bishop Nambala encouraged members of ELCIN, the largest Christian denomination in Namibia, to use their collective wisdom to find solutions to these and other societal ills and challenges.