Day: April 22, 2023

An unidentified woman’s body was on Friday afternoon found hanging on a tree in the bushes of the Camp Five at Otjiwarongo.

Camp Five is situated approximately 10 kilometres southeast of town.

Namibian Police Force (NamPol) Unit Commander for Community Affairs in the Otjozondjupa Region, Inspector Maureen Mbeha, in an interview with Nampa on Saturday said the body, which was hanging on the tree with a rope around its neck, was discovered by a cattle herder on Friday at about 14h10.

‘The herder informed his employer, who then also alerted the police officers who removed the body,’ Mbeha said.

The identity of the deceased could not be determined as no documents were found on her body.

No foul play is suspected and police investigations continue.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Prime Minister (PM), Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, said public private partnerships (PPP) are encouraged at all levels of government, including regional and local authority levels to improve quality service rendered to the public.

Kuugongelwa-Amadhila made the statement at the eighth annual Opuwo Trade Fair gala dinner held on Friday.

She said trade fair was a key platform to any given economy, since it encourages PPP’s on which government leverages on the existing private sector for the benefit of the economy’s growth.

“With this understanding, regional and local authority are strategically located in such a way that they engage in PPP projects such as this one. This makes them the first point of interaction between the state and our business community and the citizen at large,” the premier stated.

She said regional and local authorities play a pivotal role in service delivery, therefore funding from both government and private sector is key to foster sustainable development.

She said government has intentionally adopted the public service innovation policy, which is intended to trigger new ways of thinking, which is expected to result in new ways of working to meet the current demands of service delivery.

“I must state here that this policy is calling for collaboration across sectors of the economy while paying attention on the key role played by government. In this modern world, no institution will propel to greater levels while operating in isolation,” she added.

According to her, innovation is a culture that should be adopted at all levels of society in order to fast-track the reality of Vision 2030, as well as achieve sustainable development goals and Agenda 2063.

She said innovation calls for the regional and local authorities to learn from each other and improve annually.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Thika residents conducted a tree planting exercise along the banks of River Chania in an effort to regulate the flow of the river and create habitat for wildlife. The exercise that was spearheaded by local administration officers in partnership with stakeholders including Kenya Power, Kenya Forest service and Kenya Defense Forces sought to educate the area residents on the importance of tree cover in relation to rainfall and water supply in the area. According to Bahati Location Chief Irungu Macharia, the river bank had previously been a haven for illegal changaa brewers who cut down trees for fuel and polluted the river with toxic chemicals that affected the water table. ‘We have experienced serious drought in the area and water levels in the river have gone down in a very alarming manner. Therefore, our main objective was to plant more trees to replace the ones that had been cut down so as to conserve the riparian land. ‘So far, we have planted 500 indigenous trees, each of a different species and we also involved the community in the exercise to give them a sense of ownership and responsibility for the project. No one wants to cut down what they have planted. There are also farmers around here who are planting napier grass as an economic activity along the river banks and we educated them on the importance of soil conservation’ explained Macharia. Speaking to KNA, Kenya Power customer experience manager Mary Njiraini said they had planted the trees along a stretch of 1Km and they intended to extend their efforts further down the river bank in the future. ‘We generate power using the water so we need to make sure that the catchment area is taken care of. We also use wooden poles in our line of work so we spend a lot of time cutting down trees, and we wanted to give back to the community to make sure that we have wood for the future, while conserving the environment. We will come back regularly to bring manure and check on the welfare of the trees and we urge the community to assist us in this noble effort,’ she said. Nyumba Kumi Majengo Sub-Location Chairman David Musa applauded the exercise and thanked the local administration together with the stakeholders for the initiative. ‘The trees in the area had either been cut down or severely damaged which was a source of great concern for us as residents of the area. We are now hopeful that in the coming months the trees we have planted will grow and prosper and that the area will look like it used to before,’ said Musa. Kenyan Environment laws define riparian land as being a minimum of six meters and a maximum of 30 meters on either side of a river bank from the highest water mark.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Some 1, 894 students’ needy students in Universities, Colleges and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) from Manyatta Constituency, Embu, have received bursaries amounting to Sh. 14 million under the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF). Under the program dubbed ‘Masomo Bila Stress’ total orphans received Sh10, 000 each, partial orphans Sh8,000, single parents’ students Sh7,000, students from very needy families Sh6,000 while those from needy families Sh. 4,000. While issuing the cheques that will be sent directly to the beneficiaries’ institutions at Embu University grounds, MP Gitonga Mukunji said the program was aimed at ensuring needy students realize their career goals. ‘We want to ensure that learners from needy families are able to pursue their education to the highest level possible without worrying about fees,’ the MP said. He at the same time decried marginalization of Mt. Kenya Region in sharing of Government resources, saying the current formula of allocating constituencies same amount was discriminative to areas with high population. ‘Some MPs from sparsely populated constituencies are able to offer full scholarship to learners whereas like here I am struggling to give a student Sh. 10, 000,’ he said. He said the onus was on the 13th parliament to ensure fairness in distribution of government resources as he pushed for ‘One Man One Shilling’ formula. ‘ ‘The number of people should determine the amount of money that a constituency or county gets because it is the people that need and use the money,’ Mukunji said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Social media reports alleging Ethiopia’s intervention in Sudan is baseless and fictitious, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Regarding the current situation in Sudan, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Meles Alem talked to ENA that Ethiopia has been playing a very pivotal role in the pacification of Sudan and continue to stand on the side of the people of Sudan.

“The allegations by some social media outlets are baseless and fictitious report. Ethiopia is known for standing for the people of Sudan. That has been a tradition since the time immemorial,” he said.

The ambassador added the allegations by some media outlets are white lie.

“If we count the past 50 years from the time of Emperor Haile Selassie up to the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, we have been playing a very pivotal role in the pacification of Sudan. So, that is a standing commitment and we continue to stand on the side of the people of Sudan,” he said.

“This is a Sudanese problem. We believe the way forward is Sudanese own solutions. They have the wisdom, knowledge to address challenging time. We continue to support this endeavor as a good neighbor,” he added.

He added that Ethiopia has full desire and readiness to fulfill its historic role, making contributions to resolving the problem that Sudan is facing in a peaceful manner.

According to Meles, the government of Ethiopia is closely monitoring the situation of Ethiopian nationals in Sudan. There is big number of Ethiopian nationals residing in the country.

The ministry of foreign Affairs in tandem with other relevant government bodies and other administrations has been closely monitoring the situations; and a task force has already been established to foresee the development in the country.

The spokesperson reiterates that the Sudanese will solve their problems by their own wisdom and understanding without any foreign intervention.

In a recent statement he posted in Arabic, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Ethiopia strongly condemns allegations that it brought troops inside Sudanese border areas and warns the parties involved in incitement and conflict to meet their lowly political goals by spreading false claims.

The premier condemned parties that are seeking to achieve their lowly political goals by spreading false claims.

The Ethiopian government and people have a firm belief that the Sudanese people solve their own problems.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The National Rehabilitation Commission (NRC) has conducted its last round table consultations on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants in Hawassa city.

The consultation borough together representatives of South Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’, South West Ethiopia Peoples’ and Gambella regional states and the representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ambassador Teshome Toga, and the National Rehabilitation Chief Commissioner twitted.

During the consultations the stakeholders expressed strong commitment and support to the implementation of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of ex-combatants.

Recently, the National Rehabilitation Chief Commissioner Ambassador Teshome Toga told ENA that registration of former combatants will begin in June 2023.

The National Demobilization and Reintegration Programme (NDRP) will support demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants, making important contribution to national efforts to consolidate peace and promote stability.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency