Story by Albertina Nakale
WINDHOEK - Almost 62 000 drought affected people in the Caprivi Region have not yet received drought relief food, because confusion reigns over the submission of a food aid request according to reports making the rounds in the region.
This is despite the fact that some regions have already started receiving their drought relief food and will soon start receiving a second round of food aid. President Hifikepunye Pohamba has already declared a national drought emergency, but the region has not yet received any drought relief food due to what some say is ineptitude by some government officials.
Caprivi Regional Governor Lawrence Sampofu in an interview with New Era yesterday confirmed that the region, which is also hard hit by the current drought, has not received any food for thousands of affected people.
He said his office has already submitted a request for drought relief, but the Prime Minister’s Office has not yet responded to the request. He said the only food relief the region has received so far was for the Kabbe constituency flood victims who have since last month moved back to their homes from the relocation camps where they had been living since March this year. "The Prime Minister’s Office told us that we did not put in our request, but we did. The issue is not yet solved and communities are busy complaining about hunger through their regional councillors. We are still waiting for feedback from the Prime Minister's Office on the way forward," Sampofu said.
On a more positive note Nangula Mbako, the Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office yesterday confirmed that the deadlock has been broken and that the drought relief food earmarked for the region is ready for collection. She explained that the Prime Minister’s Office has already informed a company called Kamunu, which is responsible for supplying food to the region that the food is ready for collection.
"As I am talking, there is food ready for collection. The company must just collect the grain … mill and pack the maize meal. Any time the region needs food, they must just go and collect the food. I have confirmed with the manager at Kamunu that the food is ready for collection," she said.
Caprivi Chief Regional Officer Regina Ndopu confirmed that about 62 000 residents have been registered for drought relief food in five constituencies except for Katima Urban.
"More people are still coming especially those who stay in informal settlements. We need to do an assessment and verify that people are really severely affected by drought," she said. Regarding the issue of alleged payments to a Chinese company for the drilling of boreholes that never materialised, Sampofu rubbished the claim as completely false and devoid of truth.
"There are 13 boreholes to be drilled on the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. Drillers have already started a month ago and they are all locals, there are no Chinese nationals drilling boreholes in this region," he said emphatically. He said five of the boreholes have been completed and are already in use. Two of those, he said, are at Malengalenga in the Linyanti constituency, two others are in the Kongola constituency, while the other one is situated in the Katima Rural constituency.
"There are no ghost boreholes and there are no Chinese companies drilling boreholes in Caprivi. All contractors are locals. We have not received the allocated boreholes to be drilled from the drought relief budget yet," the governor emphasized.