NKURENKURU – Residents of Kavango West whose administrative seat is at Nkurenkuru on Wednesday welcomed the new governor for Kavango West.
Jubilant residents of the region flocked to the town hall of Nkurenkuru to receive Sirkka Ausiku who was recently appointed as Kavango West Governor, bringing the number of female governors in Namibia to four.
Speaking at the event, Kavango East Governor, Dr Samuel Mbambo, who was responsible for the two Kavango regions until the recent appointment of Ausiku as the Kavango West governor, said he was honoured and happy to have served Kavango West and praised President Pohamba for the opportunity given him to serve the two regions simultaneously. “I sincerely appreciate the trust and faith he had in me,” said Mbambo.
He also thanked the residents of Kavango West for their cooperation during his tenure as governor. “In this period of growing social changes, Namibia is calling for a leadership in love with people and justice, not with wealth. In this time which is affected by tribalism, we need leaders who can sacrifice their tribalism to assume duty, “ Mbambo welcomed Ausiku.
He said the people of Kavango West and the entire Namibia are indeed in good hands as the new governor is a very hard working, reliable and capable person.
Chief of the Mbunza tribe Hompa Alfons Kaundu spoke on behalf of the traditional authorities in Kavango West. He said he was one of the people to agree when he was consulted by the Delimitation Commission on the idea of dividing Kavango into two regions, adding that he knew the division would make development easier, as well as the administration.
“We should be very happy to receive our first governor, who is also a woman that I know is very hard working,” said Kaundu. He urged Governor Ausiku to listen to people. Kaundu also urged residents to desist from tribalism as this would not bring development.
Major General (Rtd) Charles Namoloh, the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development said although Kavango is now split into two regions there is no regional council for Kavango East or Kavango West as the the current Kavango Regional Council would continue to exercise their duties, obligations and functions until elections are organised next year for both regions to have their separate regional councils. Thus the Kavango Regional Council will serve the two governors in the meantime.
He revealed there is a budgetary provision of N$49.6 million for the construction of constituency offices for Kavango West and the ministry has also allocated N$18.3 million for its operational budget for 2014/15. “I call upon, traditional leaders, church leaders as well as the entire public to give her your full support, and governors are national leaders, they don’t belong to certain political parties – they are the servants of all people,” stressed Namoloh.
Ausiku said she accepted her new duties as the first governor for Kavango West as a responsibility to act as a representative of the central government in the region. She said: “It is my task to ensure that all programs and projects of our region are fully implemented in line with the budgetary allocation by different ministries and agencies to achieve service delivery.”
She said she was ready to take up the task and work for the people. She told Namoloh that the region would need his full support as it was starting afresh with everything – from offices and so forth – and also urged different ministries and agencies to set up offices in the region as soon as possible to cater for the demands of the new region.
By John Muyamba