RUNDU – Rundu Rural constituency councillor Paulus Mbangu says if heroes and heroines who died for the country’s liberation struggle would rise today and see what is happening, they would probably salute the patriotic residents of his constituency for cultivating democratic values and praise President Hage Geingob on how he handled Covid-19, as it was not an easy task.
But fallen Namibian heroes and heroines will most likely get angry when they read about the statistics of unemployment among the youth and the poverty rate in the country.
Mbangu, during a belated independence event at Ngcangcana village in Rundu Rural last Friday, said he was filled with deep emotions as the country celebrates 32 years of Independence, knowing that more than half of our population is poor.
He said, 32 years later, the country is not different from the colonial government, which was characterised by the widening gap between the rich and poor.
“Let us redefine the sense of national responsibility and devote ourselves to our country. Fallen heroes will be infuriated to learn about the skewed distribution of resources that despite Kavango East and West being the poorest region, those regions receive the least budget. They will be angry to learn that despite the fact that we have many patients who need wheelchairs in Kavango East, Rundu was given a budget of N$0.00 for wheelchairs, while Oshakati hospital received N$300 000, Onandjokwe N$50 000, Katutura N$878 596 and Central Hospital N$2.2 million,’’ he said.
“They will most likely shake their head in disbelief to learn that skewed distribution of resources has become a religion in independent Namibia, and that statistical data at the hand of government is not considered in budgeting. Windhoek Central was allocated N$4 million for orthopaedic technical service, Oshakati Hospital N$600 000, Onandjokwe N$50 000 and again not even a red cent was budgeted for Rundu hospital,’’ he stated.
Mbangu said fallen heroes would most likely become angrier to learn that the ministry of information and communication technology regional office in the entire Kavango East operates on a mere budget of N$70 000 per annum.
“Less than the budget for dog food for some of our elites in this country. They will hold their head in disbelief to learn about the idiotic regulations of 75% pension retention’’ he shared.
Regarding Rundu Rural, “they will most likely get angry to learn that our government hasn’t managed to build a new hospital or a district hospital in both Kavango East and West after independence. They will most likely get angry to learn that there is only one clinic in the entire Rundu Rural Constituency and no health centre or a district hospital,’’ said Mbangu.
“They will not be pleased to hear that Ngcangcana school, which has up to grade seven, has only two permanent classes made of bricks – the rest are either prefabricated or temporary structures. They will not be happy to learn that there are no contraceptives in Namibian hospitals and that our poor girls are told to go and buy contraceptives from pharmacies,’’ he stated.
Mbangu said fallen heroes and heroines would not be happy to learn that civil servants have not received a salary increment for the past eight years and counting, despite the high inflation rate in the country.
“Kavango East economy has always been characterised as two parallel economies, masqueraded as one. The one economy is that which is baptised as the mainstream economy, owned by Chinese, South African, Indian, Portuguese and Egyptian companies. We have probed the systematic fault lines that reproduce our problems. Central to this is the matter of the economic trappings upon which social transformation hinges. We need to make catalytic choices that will unlock a sweeping transformative tide over our social system. Mbangu noted there is an urgent need for radical economic transformation to evolve a regime of financial institutions that avails start up capital. Our financial institutions must make it easy for the youth to access start up capital; DBN and Agribank have not done justice to Kavango East region – a lot is desired.
“We urge the ministry of education to build a new hostel in Rundu Rural. We urge the ministry of health to transform Likwaterera and Cuma Mobile Clinics to be fully-fledged clinics. The ministry needs to set up new clinics in Manwangombe, Gonua and Makandina villages. The ministry of mines needs to revise its policy on rural electrification; people in rural areas deserve decent lives too,’’ he said.
“There is unnecessary delay by MTC on the activation of their network towers; our communities want to feel like they live in the independent Republic of Namibia. MTC needs to activate its towers to make life easier for our people,’’ he noted.