ONGWEDIVA – Engela constituency councillor Elikan Hainghumbi, who at times has to dig into his own pocket to feed the needy, is appealing for urgent intervention by the Office of the Prime Minister.
According to the politician, this year’s drought and floods had dire consequences for the majority of locals who eke out a living from their crop fields.
“I urge the Office of the Prime Minister to release drought relief [food] because the situation is getting out of hand,” Hainghumbi said in an interview with New Era last week.
He said adults between the ages of 40 and 50 make up the majority of those who suffer from hunger in the area. Others have reached the pensionable age but do not possess the necessary national documents to benefit from the government pension.
Facing hunger, members of the community occasionally throng to the constituency councillor’s office for food and refuse to leave the premises even upon realising there is no food.
“This forces me to use my own money to buy them at least a bag of maize meal, cooking oil and fish because this is the only way I can make them leave,” he said, adding that it is not sustainable.
Engela is the biggest constituency in the Ohangwena region. What is peculiar, the councillor said, is they have never received drought relief food since he became a councillor in 2020 apart from 90 bags of maize meal that were given to the whole region earlier this year.
One of the victims, Hilaria Shuudeni, who comes from a family of nine, said: “My family and I are so hungry that some days we go to bed on an empty stomach.”
Echoing similar sentiments was Likius Nakada (60), who claimed he was “starving to death”.
He added that he is on medical treatment and his pension is mostly spent on buying medication.
Caption: Hunger…. Engela constituency councillor Elkan Hainghumbi.
Photo: Contributed