Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa – Amadhila on Wednesday said drought relief interventions should be mainstreamed in the government ‘ s programmes and not only be seen in the context of immediate assistance to affected communities . The Premier , while addressing a two – day discussion on the drought response plan for July 2024 to June 2025 here Wednesday , said drought relief programmes must aim at building resilience to emergencies and ensure sustainable development . ‘ Not every emergency should become a disaster … if for example we know that we are disaster prone , why should we every year need a lot of time to prepare for that programme ? Why should we have people suffering from hunger and malnutrition when we are supposed to mainstream drought relief programmes in our [ government ] programmes ,’ she questioned . Following President Nangolo Mbumba had declared a national state of emergency on drought in May 2024 . Kuugongelwa – Amadhila said the government budget for drought relief is N . dollars 1 . 3
billion towards interventions such as livestock support , food assistance seed and horticulture provision , water provision . She stressed that currently disaster response expenditures are enormous and often crowding out other priority expenditures that are necessary to promote economic growth and development which are beyond Government ‘ s ability to afford and thus threaten fiscal sustainability and counter progress towards sustainable development . ‘ It is therefore , as important if not even more , to address resilience to disasters as it is to provide relief in the aftermath of disasters ,’ she said . She indicated that the government has thus far recorded N . dollars 12 million from developmental partners , while N . dollars 229 . 7 million worth of pledges were made . Kuugongelwa – Amadhila referred to the Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis , which states that indicates out of a total of three million people , 1 . 26 million or 41 . 5 per cent are regarded to be in an emergency situation and require
urgent action to reduce food gaps and protect livelihoods .

Source: The Namibia News Agency