Day: July 25, 2023

A new police station was officially inaugurated at Onkumbula in the Oshikoto Region by the Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force (NamPol), Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo, on Monday.

The construction of the state-of-art facility at over N.dollars 71 million follows years of complaints by residents over the lack of policing services, which forced them to travel long distances to access such services.

In his remarks, Shikongo said the government will spare no resources to invest in projects that are aimed at bettering the living standards and socio-economic development of the Namibian people.

“The development of this infrastructure is a true reflection of the Namibian government’s commitment in enhancing safety and security,” he said.

The facility amongst others has five charge offices, a boardroom, record and armoury room, radio room and server room.

It also has three holding cells, a doctor’s consultation room, two-bedroom flats and barracks with 12 rooms for males and eight for females, as well as a fuel station.

During the same event, two vehicles were handed over to ensure the mobility of the officers at the police station.

Meanwhile, Oshikoto Governor Penda Ya Ndakolo in a speech read on his behalf, said that the opening of a new police station is part of government’s efforts to bring services closer to the people in remote rural areas.

“This will also assist the community in the Eengodi and Nahale Lya Mpingana Constituencies who mostly travel long distances to access service,” he said.

He stressed that the police have been brought closer thus the community should work with the police to ensure a crime free society.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The High Court will sit in the Kavango East and Zambezi regions from 01 to 31 August 2023.

Deputy director of public relations in the Office of the Judiciary, Vikitoria Hango in a media statement on Monday said the High Court will be sitting in terms of the High Court Act 16 of 1990.

She said the High Court has two designated sittings, the main division which is based in Windhoek, and a local division based in Oshakati.

“The Judge President however may, if he considers it to be necessary or expedient in the interest of the administration of justice, authorise the holding of a sitting of the High Court elsewhere in Namibia,” Hango explained.

In accordance with this, the Judge President, in consultation with other stakeholders, identified the need for circuit courts in the aforementioned regions in an effort to promote access to justice. This was seen as a way to alleviate the caseload of criminal cases in the identified regions.

The Judge President will therefore preside over the circuit court in the Kavango East Region from 1 to 15 August 2023. He will then travel to the Zambezi Region, where he will preside over the circuit court there from 15 to 31 August 2023.

The Judge President is expected to preside over a total of eight criminal trial cases in the two regions.

“The accused persons and all the witnesses to be called in the eight cases are from Rundu and Katima Mulilo respectively. The regional courts in the respective regions have been designated as circuit courts of the High Court during this period,” Hango noted.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Developers of the Green Hydrogen Project have a responsibility to ensure that local content aspirations are taken seriously and achieved, especially by creating links to build a local value chain.

This was said by ||Kharas Governor, Aletha Frederick while addressing the launch of the social economic development framework for green hydrogen here Monday.

The framework for Namibia’s first gigawatt-scale Green Hydrogen Project was launched by Hyphen Hydrogen Energy and the Namibian Government.

Frederick said leaders and frontrunners of the project must guard against unprincipled conduct, which has the potential to cause many undesirable socio-economic outcomes, which could deny local people to benefit from resources at their doorsteps.

She appealed to the pioneers of the project to be mindful of the effective governance pillar that encourages not only better service delivery, but also places emphasis on improved accountability by establishing a benchmark for good governance, which is centred on compliance to all governance instruments without fear or favour.

“It is important that opportunities provided by the development of the project should reflect a well-balanced, inclusive, and fair regional representation of all Namibians as Namibia does not encourage regionalism, racial discrimination or ethnicity, but charity should start at home,” she said.

Frederick further said the youth and small and medium enterprises from the ||Kharas and Hardap regions are given fair opportunities to fully participate in the development.

Also speaking was Keetmanshoop Mayor McDonald Hanse, who urged the government, the green hydrogen council and Hyphen give preference to Southerners in terms of employment and procurement during the green hydrogen project.

“It is an open secret that the people of the south have been excluded from the mainstream economy of the county. We understand and respects government’s principal of one Namibia, one nation, but equally do we have other frameworks like equity and affirmative action, which can be applicable in this instance so the southerner’s benefit?” he said.

Hyphen, the company that was awarded the contract to spearhead green hydrogen production, is undertaking a feasibility study of the project over a period of two and a half years, while the construction of the facilities is expected to start in 2026.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency