Windhoek
An overarching reality of poverty, according to information gathered in all 14 regions, is a lack of implementation of government programmes and projects intended to lift people out of poverty.
This revelation was made by the Minister of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, Zephania Kameeta, on Monday during the National Conference on Wealth Redistribution and Poverty Eradication, which ended yesterday in Windhoek.
He said that in most regions where the poor live they find themselves having to watch boreholes being drilled and sealed for years without being equipped.
Such a crisis leads to communities having no access to potable water for human consumption and their livestock, and having to walk long distances to the nearest water point, or they have to resort to unhygienic water sources.
The permanent secretary in the poverty eradication ministry, I-Ben Nashandi, said there are a lot of government projects for the installation of water pipelines and the drilling of boreholes, but they take too long to be completed.
“There is high project failure due to limited stakeholder consultation in the process of project identification, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to facilitate ownership at local level,” Nashandi said.
He highlighted that communities often lack information about the availability of programmes of government and that the service of public servants does not amount to “satisfactory service”.
Remote areas therefore do not have access to basic services such as water and power, he added.
During the regional consultations the communities also raised the concern that rural electrification programmes are too slow and biased towards those residing close to public institutions such as clinics and schools, he said.
“There is limited funding at regional and constituency level to support projects and income-generating activities. There is also limited access or no access to benefits derived from the exploitation of natural resources such as fish and mineral concessions by grass-roots communities, as well as a lack of value addition to primary products.”
Nashandi said that communities touched on the need for decentralised skills development and innovation centres that take care of key skills required for regional-specific economic, business and resource endowment opportunities. They also feel that there is limited information on qualifying criteria for accessing education grants by vulnerable people in rural areas.
He said the realities of poverty were narrated by the poor people themselves during the regional dialogue that preceded the conference. The dialogue saw people flocking to meetings determined to take their destiny in their own hands and improve their living conditions, he noted.
They also feel that public works undertaken in the regions draw skills from elsewhere other than from those that are locally available.
The findings further include children having to walk before dawn for seven kilometres to school on empty stomachs, among elephants and other wild animals.
People also have to drink from the same well with animals. Other findings are that former students sit hopelessly around villages and towns after graduating from vocational institutions, simply because they cannot secure a loan to start their own business.
Teachers and learners equally have to resort to the nearby bush to relive themselves, simply because schools were built without ablution facilities.
Abuse of alcohol by people of all ages, because people have become hopeless and destitute, were some of the others issues raised during the regional meetings.