Oshana Governor, Elia Irimari, has expressed concern over the number of gender-based violence cases recorded in the region, saying it should not be tolerated.
Irimari said this while delivering his third State of the Region Address (SORA) as governor of Oshana, in which he said the region recorded 150 GBV cases and 28 rape cases between January and May 2021.
‘This is a very big disappointment… We should not tolerate any form of violence against women and children,’ he said.
Irimari also noted concern regarding education projects that were abandoned during the 2016/17 financial year at some schools in the region, urging the education ministry to follow up on them and ensure that they are completed.
The governor, in his address, said he was pleased with the progress made by Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa in the provision of essential services, saying with the current high demand for urban land, solutions lie in mass land servicing and essential urban services infrastructure development.
“The local authorities are also developing recreational facilities for the youth in the region,” he said.
He lauded regional stakeholders for their collaborative efforts in supporting local businesses in assisting communities affected by COVID-19 through financial means and donation of medical equipment, among others.
Irimari added that three businesses have so far benefited from the joint initiative by the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade, Standard Bank Namibia and the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia at a cost of N.dollars 457 000, which established the Sustainable Development Goals Facility to improve access to capital and provide financing for women and youth in business.
The governor also gave account for the N.dollars 2 million budget allocated to the Oshana Regional Council by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) for the construction of service infrastructure at the Eheke and Uukwanguka settlements, saying N.dollars 765 014 was spent on cadastral surveying at the two settlements.
Furthermore, MURD allocated N.dollars 1.9 million to the council for rural development programmes and of this amount, N.dollars 1 million was used to construct 76 toilets, while N.dollars 423 109 was used for 11 projects under the Regional Specific Action Plan for food security and N.dollars 423 109 for 11 micro-finance projects.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
