The Swapo Pary Youth League (SPYL) in the Kavango East Region says one of the reasons why the region is poor is due to funds given to the region every year by the government which are unfairly distributed to benefit all particularly the youth.

SPYL regional secretary Anselm Marungu said this during the youth league’s first meeting for the year held at Divundu in the Mukwe Constituency on Saturday.

According to Marungu: ‘Government gives money to each region for development every financial year and what the regional leadership together with the technocrats do with the money is up to them. This is just one of many reasons why the region is poor.’

Marungu said for a young people in a village to get a tender is not easy as there seems to be a cartel in which tenders are being dished out. The tenders are just for a certain few individuals at the expense of poor young people.

According to the Namibia Statistics Agency report of 2018, the Kavango East Region topped the youth unemployment rate at 62.5 per cent followed by Kunene Region with 53 per cent respectively.

Marungu appealed to the Kavango East Regional Council to make companies that get tenders, sign a memorandum of understanding with the youth forum leadership in order to employ the youth.

‘How correct is it for someone who is from Rundu to get a tender in Divundu. Are we saying there is no one who can get a cleaning tender in Divundu? We need to correct some of these issues,’ he stressed.

Senior Public Relations Officer at the Kavango East Regional Council Fransiska Thikerete in response said all tenders awarded are done so, in accordance with the procurement act.

She said the regional council advertises tenders at the constituency level and are also made available on social media platforms as well.

She called on the youth to organise themselves and always make sure that they comply with tender rules.

The youth leader also touched on the education sector in the region saying teachers are overworked as their classrooms are overcrowded with more learners.

He said thousands of qualified teachers are at home calling on the directorate of education to look into how these teachers can be used.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency