By Frederick Philander TSES Prime Minister Nahas Angula sees the provision of electricity to the village of Tses as a unique and milestone achievement for the government’s rural development programme. He expressed this view on Wednesday morning when he officiated at the hand-over of an electricity project by a private company to the village council. A large number of villagers witnessed the occasion. “With this event Tses is, in my view, irreversibly on its way to becoming a Namibian town. Seen in the broader context of rural development challenges, it is important to involve the people for whom such development is meant in all our efforts to alleviate poverty and other social ills in our communities,” said Angula. According to Angula, the electricity project, completed by a private company known as EMCON and Powerline 2000, is an important element for social transformation in the country. “Electrification is not only to provide light when it’s dark, or to boil water. It is energy supply, valuable to start small businesses such as a bakery, a needlework shop, a metal shop or to initiate a community-cultural activity to entertain people, part of rural development. However, energy is scarce and expensive, and will become more expensive,” he warned the villagers. Angula expressed the government’s willingness to allow others besides Nampower to also generate electricity. “The generation of electricity should not be the exclusive right of Nampower. A government policy to this effect is currently being worked on to allow for private people to generate electricity either by way of solar energy, wind power or ocean wave power. Naturally, there are many other ways of generating electricity. This will make electricity more affordable in the long term,” the PM predicted. He expressed the hope that the village schools in particular will directly benefit educationally by the electricity Tses is now receiving as an informal settlement. “I hope the schools and learners will make full use of this commodity for evening classes and the improvement of Grade 10 results, which I expect to be 100 percent this year. Education is undoubtedly the basis of wealth-creation and such knowledge is an important source everyone needs to exploit,” said Angula, who suggested that other services in the village also needed to be improved for the villagers to live in better conditions. The PM further urged the community to work close together and to collectively improve the quality of life for all. “Presently, the government is in the process of drawing up its third development programme. My wish is that the needs of Tses will be reflected therein so that the village can become part of the national budget. Obviously, all needs will not be summarily addressed at once. Step by step progress will show eventually, if we go about things in an innovative manner,” Angula said. “The government must create and spearhead development to bring about positive economic changes in our communities. The ultimate goal with development is to improve the standard and quality of life among all our communities. It is important that development efforts should start at village level where manageable communities such as Tses live,” said Angula, also acknowledging that a lack of resources remains a big problem for rural development. “It is extremely important to discover possibilities for economic growth points in our communities. I believe there are many such possibilities waiting to be discovered in all communities, despite the fact that many rural communities have been dumped in remote villages such as Tses and others by the former regime,” he said. The PM cited traditional products and art effects as valuable products that can be developed for the benefit of communities. “You now have electricity. Use it wisely and carefully because it is expensive. You can now confidently sell Tses as an investment destination,” Angula advised the village council and the villagers.