Day: March 1, 2024

OKANKOLO: The Director of Education in the Oshikoto Region, Aletta Eises, has urged learners to prioritise their studies over social media platforms.

Eises was speaking during the launch of the 2024 academic year and Oshikoto regional performance enhancement awards ceremony at Onguti Secondary School in the Okankolo Constituency.

‘Many learners are on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. They need to get off Facebook and face their books,’ said Eises.

The education director further said learners should not wait for the final examinations and should instead start preparing themselves now.

‘We need to start now because we only have a few months left before the final examinations,’ she said.

She also called upon parents to assist in fostering academic discipline among learners by establishing rules and standards at home.

Eises emphasised the theme for the year, ‘Teamwork for action towards excellence,’ stressing the collaborative effort required from both schools and parents.

‘Parents must
help the education system so that we can achieve excellence and move forward together to raise our learners,’ she said.

She further advised principals to motivate and inspire teachers and learners rather than resorting to bullying or manipulation.

‘Bullying and manipulation are not a management style, we should lead with a firm hand and a soft heart,’ Eises said.

The director’s remarks followed a decline in the Oshikoto Region’s ranking from fourth to seventh in Grade 12 results in 2023 and an improvement from eighth to fourth position in Grade 11 results.

The Regional Councillor for the Okankolo Constituency, Hans Nambondi, echoed the call for collaboration among stakeholders in the education sector to support learners in achieving their aspirations.

‘Teachers, parents, traditional leaders, business people and political leaders, let us all team up to help our learners in achieving their dreams,’ said Nambondi.

Source: Namibia Press Agency

OSHAKATI: Eemhunda residents in the Okalongo Constituency were left destitute after a strong storm and rain destroyed their homes, business premises and mahangu fields on Wednesday night.

Rafael Eduardo, 67, told Nampa on Thursday that the storm destroyed many of their properties and mahangu fields.

According to Eduardo, many of the zinc sheets that were blown off buildings were found a distance from the houses.

‘I was left now fixing the zinc sheets back that were blown away by the storm even though they are really damaged,’ he said.

He added that with their mahangu fields completely destroyed, they are worried that they will not have a harvest.

Another resident, Pendukeni Hifindako, 38, indicated that the storm affected his business badly resulting in damage of materials and equipment that will be costly for him.

‘My welding machines and other materials were damaged and getting my business off the ground once again will be costly for me,’ he said.

At this stage, Hifindako said the total value of the
damage is unknown as he will have to assess the matter.

‘I do not know what to do now, this business was my livelihood and I have lost everything in the blink of a night,’ he said.

Okalongo Constituency councillor, Laurentius Iipinge, said he is aware of the matter and will be writing a report to the Office of the Omusati Region Governor, which will then be sent to the Office of the Prime Minister for further intervention.

At this stage, Iipinge indicated that his office has no aid to help the affected residents.

‘We are waiting for the traditional authority to provide us with a detailed report as to how many homesteads were destroyed,’ he said.

Iipinge said that once the report is issued they will know how many people were already registered for drought relief and the rest will be added on the list as their mahangu field was destroyed.

Source: Namibia Press Agency

KATIMA MULILO: The Zambezi Region Governor, Lawrence Sampofu, says he believes there will be a positive outcome from the sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), arguing it will address the needs and plight of the community.

In his welcoming remarks read on his behalf by Kabbe South Constituency councillor John Likando at the consultation meeting here on Thursday, Sampofu acknowledged that NDP5 had lots of challenges and setbacks, and thus urged both the regional and local authorities and the public to actively participate in the interaction and bring desired development in the region through the new plan.

‘Our infrastructure are to be developed, in order to create employment. The Zambezi Tourism Waterfront is there, and we hoped it would create job opportunities but now it’s turning into a white elephant,’ said Sampofu.

Chief Executive Officer and Focal Point of the African Peer Review Mechanism office in Namibia, Ambassador Lineekela Mboti argued that Namibia ‘has good plans from NDP1 to NDP5, but impleme
ntation is the challenge.’

‘We must tell ourselves the truth, we are failing to implement our plans. Yes, there are resource challenges and inadequate funding, but we still need to implement our plans,’ Mboti urged.

The ambassador argued that as the mantra goes on inclusivity, indeed no one should be left out in the formulation and benefiting from the plan.

National Planning Commission Deputy Advisor, Habani Munyungano says the main reason the NPC was in the Zambezi Region was to engage in extensive consultations with everyone, from the well-informed man to the grassroots level.

‘The findings show that there is a high unemployment rate among the youth, which needs urgent attention, our own youth, we need to take care of them, we are mandated to plan on their behalf, we need them to get them access to health facilities and basic needs,’ Munyungano stated.

The NDP6 is a six-year plan that will cover 2025-2031.

Source: Namibia Press Agency

OTJIWARONGO: Learners of the Orwetoveni Primary School, Karundu Junior Secondary School and Monica Geingos Junior Secondary School on Friday afternoon gathered at Otjiwarongo’s central businesses district to celebrate World Wildlife Day.

The 2024 World Wildlife Day at Otjiwarongo was jointly organised by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism and Otjikoto B2Gold Mine’s environmental department.

The three institutions each asked learners questions about the general environment, positions of charging carnivores, relaxed herbivores and names of various trees and animals.

CCF lead environmental educator, Ignatius Davids at the event said World Wildlife Day is an important annual occasion at CCF as this provides an opportunity for them to celebrate and raise awareness about the world’s fauna and flora.

‘Therefore, this day is very important as most of the environmentalists across the world and staff members of CCF who look after a total of about 30 wild cheetahs
at the farm would come together yearly and celebrate their achievements in conservations,’ he said.

The school learners then held dancing competitions under the theme ‘Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation.’

The three schools also had poster competitions, interactive exhibitions and community engagement initiatives with a purpose to help educate and inspire the local community members here about the importance of preserving and protecting wildlife.

Source: Namibia Press Agency

Small scale farmers from Kenya are among those who will benefit from donor and advanced action research support in the Eastern and Central African region to boost food production,

The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) is currently working on harmonizing priorities of the national systems in the 15 member governments with those of the sub-regional and global partners to avoid duplication of efforts and harness economies of scale.

Despite the Global actors playing a critical role in supporting the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in financing agricultural research as well as in providing needed technical support and facilities for research, in the recent years, there has been a proliferation of uncoordinated activities in the NARS undertaking activities that merely duplicate initiatives.

Speaking during a regional planning meeting to discuss implementation of the Action Plan to strengthen partnership between Consultative Group on Interna
tional Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the Africa Agricultural Research, Innovation and Education Institutions (AARIEIs), Agriculture and livestock Cabinet secretary Mithika Linturi said Governments in the ASARECA region are interested in coordinated activities of various global actors across board in order to boost food yield.

‘The NARS have noted increasing misalignment of CGIAR resources with national priorities and have called for their activities to be rationalized through regional coordination’, he said in a speech read on his behalf by the ministries Senior Technical advisor Dr. Dennis Onkundi ,

The CS explained that a recent ASARECA Council of Patron Ministers meeting discussed gaps in derailing sustainable financing of Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) in the region through ASARECA as well as in providing needed technical support and facilities for research.

‘Effectively, this implies that the envisioned One CGIAR is expected to engage with the countries through ASARECA and this decis
ion is aimed at making ASARECA responsible and accountable to all the national Governments of the Member States., especially by being the sub-region’s technology clearing house,’ he added.

Linturi who is also the chairman of the ASARECA Council of Patron Ministers (CPM) urged stakeholders in the meeting to deliberate openly while ensuring fairness, logic, equity and subsidiarity to arrive at conclusions that will enable all to work for the interest of the NARS with the ultimate target being where the farmer reside.

ASARECA Executive Director Dr. Enock Warinda said that centralizing the operations of the organizations is being prompted by the changing dynamics in the global agriculture sector and the need to reduce wastage of resources.

‘ASARECA council of ministers recently resolved the need to ensure all organizations working in the agriculture sector in the region are coordinated from one point. Therefore, we have reached out to continental and global agricultural bodies to ensure we develop a common act
ion plan aimed at matching all the activities in order to adequately serve the smallholder farmer,’ said Dr. Warinda.

Equally, he confirmed that his organization is reaching out to its sister organizations in Africa so that they can replicate the same formula in their jurisdictions.

The approach by the agricultural players further focuses to support implementation of the November 2022 Abidjan II Communique that advocates urgent transformation of Africa’s food, land, and water systems.

The agricultural innovation network is being reformed to ONE CGIAR in order to be in tandem with the current dynamics in Africa’s farmers and Agri-food systems.

During the meeting, Dr. Warinda noted that member countries seek to make sure that they consolidate their actions to address the common agenda of agricultural research in the region following recent concerns expressed by the world’s largest global agricultural innovation network -Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The 2 day meeting br
ought stakeholders from regional agricultural research organizations namely -ASARECA, Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) and West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) who agreed to pursue coherent activities in order to help in food production.

Continental bodies that graced the Nairobi forum include the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) and Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).

Source: Kenya News Agency

RUNDU: The suspected food poisoning incident at Rundu that claimed the lives of two children and left five hospitalised has claimed another life as a 12-year-old boy died at the Rundu State Hospital on Thursday.

This was confirmed in an update by Namibian Police Force (NamPol) acting commander for the Kavango East Region, Deputy Commissioner Eino Nambahu, on Friday.

‘One of the children from the suspected food poisoning passed on last night as his two siblings remain in critical condition,’ stated Nambahu.

It is alleged that the family prepared porridge with traditional spinach known as mutete for lunch. After lunch, one of the elder kids reportedly complained of stomach ache.

Later around 19h00 that day, seven-year-old Elfriede Nangombe Shinyemba started vomiting, felt weak and died.

Nambahu said police from Ndiyona Constituency, where the incident happened, together with medical personnel from the Nyangana District Hospital, departed to the scene and found Shinyemba deceased, while others were vomiting
and in a weak state.

‘The medical personnel started giving first aid to try and stabilise their condition,’ he said.

The seven kids were immediately rushed to the Nyangana District Hospital and later transferred to the Rundu State Hospital.

While being transferred to the Rundu State Hospital, the youngest of the seven kids, one-year-old Melania Nahambo Likuwa died.

Nambahu indicated that a team from NamPol and the Ministry of Health and Social Services in the region departed to the homestead of the eight children in Ndiyona to assess the situation.

He said all the necessary samples were collected and taken for laboratory tests.

Source: Namibia Press Agency