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Want some insight in Namibian politics? I am no expert but have 16 years (1995-2011) of writing on Namibian politics in The Namibian newspaper and can probably offer you a bit more than you know about the who's who in the Namibian political zoo. You will also find a few articles commenting on other issues of concern in the country. Hope you find it interesting. - Christof

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Avert orphans catastrophe

Avert orphans catastrophe

By: Christof Maletsky

OPENING the first session of Cabinet towards the end of last month, President Hifikepunye Pohamba called on ministers to cast their eyes “further on the horizon towards the future” as they continue to improve, among other things, public institutions for faster, more efficient and effective service delivery.

The future he spoke about begins with children.
The recent findings of the Auditor General’s Office on service delivery to more than 100 000 orphans and vulnerable children is an indicator of the Government’s grasp of the wrongs that need to be righted if we are to attain Vision 2030.
How else could the status quo continue for more than three years without being noticed or addressed?
It cannot be right to celebrate, as we did with the Budget speech of last year, that N$16 million is set aside for these children in the form of maintenance, foster or disability grants when such money hardly reaches the beneficiaries.
In democracies all over the world it is a known fact that any society whose continued success is pivoted around a few – to the total neglect of the majority – is a ticking time bomb that will explode to claim both the rich and the poor as victims.
We already have grim problems facing more than 15 000 pupils who drop out of Grade 10 and Grade 12 each year and swell the unemployment statistics – which by the way now stand at 51 per cent according to a recent research.
The Namibia National Students’ Organisation has repeatedly described the country’s education system as a time bomb ready to explode due to the high number of dropouts.
Combining the education problems with the predicament of the OVCs, Government needs to get its house in order as quick as a flash to avoid a social catastrophe.
As a ‘Government for all’ which professes ‘pro-poor’ policies, our aim must be to empower the majority of Namibians to be able to fend for themselves with their dignity intact.
That is not happening, as can be seen from reports such as the one released by Auditor General Junias Kandjeke.
Worst still, by trampling on people whose dignity has already been laid to waste by poverty, through the deaths of their parents, we risk the erosion of the fighting spirit of a nation that seems to now give up on ever recovering its sense of self-worth.
The Government, and its ministries, exist strictly to manage power that was acquired, in this case by Swapo. What the Ministry of Gender Equality or the Government, by extension, must realise is that the power was given to them by the people and so what they do with it must always concern citizens.
In this case it concerns the thousands of OVCs whose rights are democratically enshrined in the Namibian Constitution.
If we are not careful Namibia’s much-hailed and talked-about democracy would be populated by dead people walking with certain rights that prove to be not worth the paper they are written on.
Democracy must not only show teeth to smile but also to snarl and bite. It must bite those who are entrusted with the lives of others but who fail them dismally and without any regret.
When it is time to discuss the report (if it ever will be discussed), I expect Members of Parliament to cry to high heaven of the impending danger caused by the dire situation Namibian orphans and vulnerable children find themselves in. Failure to do so is making yourself guilty of high treason!
There is no room for coyness or sweet-talk on this one.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

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