Lack of constituency development funds has been identified as a barrier to development. The councillor of Epukiro constituency in the Omaheke region, Vejama Kanguatjivi, said his constituency is struggling to reach the targeted goals due to lack of much-needed funds.
Kanguatjivi reiterated the poor performance of the domestic economy, which has been confirmed by most sectors recording negative growth. He noted that Covid-19 dragged the already-struggling domestic economy further down even as government tried to cater to the entire population.
He added that despite the dire situation, lack of funds burdens councillors with a heavy load to deliver what the community demands. “I can protest that it was two years back when we received a truck that used to fix our boreholes and now it disappeared because of lack of finance”, Kanguatjivi lamented.
He continued that even during the prevailing drought that wreaked havoc on the country for the last few years, most farmers in the constituency lost their livestock due to lack of drinking water. Due to this many of the constituency’s residents lost their livelihoods as most depended on cattle.
Kanguatjivi said most of the constituencies in the region are facing numerous challenges in this regard and he urged appropriate offices to start handing over constituency development funds. He further proposed that government consider constituencies with large populations and high poverty levels when planning the annual budget.
According to the office of the Prime Minister, delivering clean water to rural communities is one of the national objectives and the Omaheke region received a sum of about N$14.7 million last year in August for the drilling of boreholes in the region. Kanguatjivi said drilling of boreholes in his constituency has successfully kicked off in two villages after they suffered water shortage for a long period.
Further, he emphasised an urgent need to solve the delay in funds, as different contractors need to be paid to ensure the consistent availability of water.
“Underground water in Epukiro constituency is very far and it makes it hard to drill most of the boreholes, and another challenge is the fact that there is always a division of labour in the project, and this delays the process,” Kanguatjivi noted.