Hamata calls out government for neglecting Ohangwena Region

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Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) Member of Parliament (MP), Lukas Hamata, has called on the government to focus on the Ohangwena Region as it is the second largest region, yet one of the poorest.

Hamata addressed this statement to the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday when contributing to the Appropriation Bill of 2022/2023. The MP said according to the last population census of 2011, the Ohangwena Region has the second-largest population in the country, but it “has been neglected for many years.”

“I want to restrict my contributions mainly to the Ohangwena Region, one of the biggest regions by population but equally one of the poorest and least developed regions,” said Hamata.

He said the region faces socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, housing needs, poor sanitation, poor road infrastructure and access to potable water.

In the 2022/2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, the Ohangwena Region received the fifth-lowest development budget allocation.

“This speaks volumes on how the region is disregarded in terms of developmental priorities,” said the MP.

Hamata explained that the region has abundant water and fertile soil, saying the government can easily create employment through agricultural production to aid in increasing the standard of living for the people of this region.

“Government needs to realign its development priorities. They need to distribute resources equally across all regions,” said Hamata, concluding that Ohangwena “deserves the same opportunities that other regions in the country enjoy.”

Source: The Namibian Press Agency