Day: July 18, 2024

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is conducting an education outreach initiative in the remote areas of the Kunene Region to education people on why they have to register as a prerequisite to voting in elections.

The civic and voter education campaign, which is underway concurrently with the voter registration process, is aimed at all eligible voters in the Kunene Region, as well as ensuring that all residents understand their rights and the voter registration procedures.

Santos Muhenje, ECN’s Kunene regional voter education officer, told Nampa on Wednesday that the region is on track with its voter education campaign to educate citizens on the voter registration procedure and what is required of them to register to vote.

‘This process started at the beginning of the year and as always, preceding every election or voter registration, ECN embarks on voter and civic education to educate the general public on the various aspects of the election and what is expected of them,’ stated Muhenje.

Currently
, voter educators are in hard-to-reach mountainous sections of the Kunene Region, engaging residents on the voter registration process before registration officers begin next week.

‘We must prepare voters before the registration officials get to their venues and I must say that the team has been doing a good job so far,’ remarked Muhenje.

According to Muhenje, the continuing campaign aims to attain universal electorate coverage, which includes reaching out to underprivileged groups and internally displaced people, as well as young individuals who are voting for the first time.

Muhenje noted that ECN is using Namibian Air Force helicopters to conduct these engagements and provide education in hard-to-reach places.

ECN has four teams in the Kunene Region, with 12 voter educators covering the Epupa East, Epupa West, and Opuwo Rural constituencies, including the Kamanjab, Outjo and Khorixas districts.

Through these efforts, the region has registered 37 000 voters in the last six weeks.

Mike Nganjone, the re
gional elections officer in Kunene, told this agency in a recent interview that the region aims to register more than 80 per cent of eligible voters.

According to the most recent Census, the region contains approximately 50 000 eligible voters.

Source: The Namibia News Agency

WINDHOEK: Cabinet Secretary George Simataa has urged accounting officers and implementers in public service delivery to reconsider their positions and recognise that their primary focus is on implementing government policies, plans, and projects.

Speaking on Wednesday during an engagement meeting hosted by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology with chief regional officers from all 14 regions in the Oshikoto Region, Simaata said they should remember that they are not policymakers.

‘We advise and assist in the policy formulation process,’ he said.

He emphasised that the success of policy development and management is heavily reliant on the effective, meaningful, and functional relationship between the political head (minister, council chairperson, or governor of the region) and the administrative head (the ED or CRO) in the public sector.

This interface, he said, should be viewed in light of the functional behaviour, attitudes, mindset, power relations, and abilities of elected and appoin
ted officials in the performance of their official tasks.

Simataa emphasised the need of role clarity in this interaction. The political head is meant to be a policymaker rather than an administrator, whereas the administrative head is expected to carry out the policies formulated by the political head. However, the political head will eventually become involved in administrative matters with political connotations and content, he said.

While politics and administration are formally distinct, in practice, there is a fine and sensitive line that both administrators and politicians can cross, he noted.

‘Unfortunately, there are no standing rules and procedures which guide the behaviour of either of them and which clearly define their respective roles and expected behaviour to each other. In the absence of such rules, the personalities of the two become a major factor in the success or failure of the interface in managing the public services as an instrument of the State machinery,’ he said.

He went on to sa
y that in ministries or regional councils when the political head and the administrative head communicate frequently, issues and concerns facing the ministry or council are more likely to be addressed openly. When there is a lack of trust and respect between the two parties, relations can deteriorate dramatically, giving rise to the ‘betrayal theory’ and fears of ‘bureaucratic sabotage’ as politicians refer to it.

Source: The Namibia News Agency

Hardap Governor Salomon April has described former education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa as the epitome of a leader who served with distinction.

Hanse-Himarwa, aged 57, died on 14 July 2024 in a local hospital.

The governor on Wednesday said ‘As Namibians, we have lost many great leaders, and one of them was Katrina Hanse-Himarwa. She was the epitome of a leader who served with distinction.’

Former mayor of Mariental, Billy Mensah who described the late Hanse-Himarwa as a sister, said she was an open person, and sometimes people did not like the fact that she was a straight talker. ‘There were times she was not right in certain situations, but she always admitted when she was wrong. That’s how our friendship was; we constantly shared advice,’ said Mensah.

Mariental entrepreneur Maria Boois, who also served as a secretary at the Swapo office when Hanse-Himarwa worked from the office, fondly recalled, ‘She was like family to everyone and treated me as her own daughter. She was friendly, always ready to h
elp where necessary, and served as a steadfast role model for women in the Hardap Region.’

Altagracia Kheibes, a teacher and close friend of Hanse-Himarwa’s, recalled the significant contributions she made to the development of the people of the south and Namibia in general. She served as a teacher, principal, councillor, governor, and minister of basic education and had a significant impact on Namibia’s education system.

Kheibes further emphasised that the former education minister was known for her compassionate yet disciplined leadership.

Source: The Namibia News Agency

WINDHOEK: President Nangolo Mbumba has urged international bodies to shift their focus from merely advising governments to providing the resources people need.

Speaking during a courtesy visit by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative, Alka Bhatia to State House on Thursday, Mbumba said in current times international organisations should identify challenges faced by countries and solve them collectively.

‘All international organisations are ready to give advice… ‘This should be done this way, this should be done this way’… It is good, but we really want all of us as the UN system, ministries and government to concentrate on things people can touch and can see because sometimes everything is a document,’ he said.

Mbumba further indicated that sometimes international bodies advise countries on soft loans, but nobody is really giving anything but loans.

‘We have to help one other, not with advice, but with work,’ he emphasised.

Bhatia echoed his sentiments, noting that the UNDP
aims to be hands-on in terms of the work they are doing in Namibia. She said the UNDP projects that it will over the next five years bring in approximately N.dollars 727 million (US.dollars 40 million).

She further noted that currently the UNDP is working with the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism on six projects, including the trans-boundary water management of the Kunene and Cuvelai rivers valued at about N.dollars 145 million (US.dollars 8 million), while other projects included building 16 boreholes.

‘Our country programme document is completely aligned with the national development plans of the country. We have been working mainly with the ministries. We also mobilise along your side… there are enough documents…but how do you move from strategies to the implementation?’ she queried.

Bhatia further indicated that for the past several years, UNDP has been advocating to reach out to the ministries and support in terms of fully utilising development expenditure due to the lack of implementatio
ns or absorption capacity.

‘We are not here to replace the government but to support and work alongside the government… Those are some of the things we can help and deliver on, which will accelerate the development trajectory of the country,’ she said.

Source: The Namibia News Agency