Ongwediva
The councillor for Ondangwa Urban Constituency Elia Irimari plans to engage in talks to harvest water and revive old dams to store water for both human and water consumption during dry seasons.
Irimari says Oshana has plenty of unutilised water during the rainy season, which could be used in times of drought.
“If we can do this we can encourage the unemployed to start small-scale irrigation projects to sustain themselves and even make a profit from their produce,” said Irimari.
Irimari made the remarks during a telephone interview on Monday.
Irimari also plans to strengthen education to have enough skilled youths to drive the local economy.
Similarly, Irimari also plans to develop the youth by creating opportunities that will benefit them.
Andreas Uutoni of Ongwediva Constituency said he would engage in public meetings with the community to address all challenges.
“I will visit all the growth centres in the constituency and request each centre to identify three projects which they would want implemented in their area,” said Uutoni.
He said once he knows the needs of the community, he would set up a plan of action and implement the projects according to the availability of funds.
Uutoni and Irimari concurred that much has been done by their predecessors in terms of addressing water and electrification, however the duo said it remains top of the agenda to bring services closer to the people.
Councillor of Okaku Constituency, Gerson Hannu Kapenda, said he would concentrate on empowering women to produce food for themselves.
“Three to four years from now, I do not want people from Okaku going to buy tomatoes at Ondangwa, I want people to be self-sufficient,” said Kapenda.
He said his plan to empower the community to sustain themselves ties in with President Hage Geingob’s call to fight and eradicate poverty in the Namibian society.