Day: October 8, 2023

The Namibian Police Force (NamPol)’s Deputy Inspector-General for Operations, Major General Elias Mutota, has commended the collaboration between the public and law enforcement agencies in the combating of crime.

Speaking to the media in Windhoek on Friday, Mutota attributed the success of a high-profile police operation last week to public’s trust in law enforcement.

During a sting operation in the capital on Tuesday, NamPol arrested 20 foreign nationals who allegedly recruited Namibian youth to conduct cryptocurrency scams on foreign nationals.

During the intelligence-led operation, the police raided six residences in the upmarket suburbs of Auasblick, Klein Kuppe, Klein Windhoek, as well as the offices of Raylon Investment at Shapumba Towers in the city centre.

Mutota said the suspects included 11 Chinese, five Zimbabweans, two Namibians, a Singaporean and a Cuban national.

In addition, 88 Namibian youth have been arrested for being accomplices to the crime.

He said the police received a tip-off about an alleged fraudulent scheme concerning a pig butchering cryptocurrency investment scheme.

“Young Namibians, mostly students, were recruited by suspected foreign nationals and trained to create false profiles on Facebook and Instagram to lure unsuspecting United States citizens into the scheme,” Mutota said.

The students, who were accommodated at various residences across the city, worked at night from 17h00 to convince American clients that the scammers were indeed in America.

“The students’ movements were strictly controlled, and they were also provided with company cellphones, which were collected when they went off duty—twice a week,” Mutato explained, adding that they were paid salaries ranging from N.dollars 3 000.

The suspects face criminal charges ranging from human trafficking to money laundering, fraud, and tax evasion. However, a total of 50 youth, aged between 20–25, have since agreed to collaborate with the police.

Mutota paid tribute to the police officers and stakeholders for their dedication to crime prevention.

“Moreover, to the public, because their trust and cooperation plays a vital role in assisting law enforcement officers in the execution of their mandate. May this success serve as a reminder of the importance of stakeholder, community and police collaboration. Together, we can create a safer Namibia,” he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Swapo Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has urged people to stop tribalism and build a Namibia that will bring prosperity to everyone.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said this during the Swapo party’s rally in Omuthiya on Saturday.

She said tribalism forms part of the things that can bring down a country that is trying to develop itself.

“Tribalism and regionalism destroy this country and our lives,” she said.

She said a tribalist person will never have personal peace of mind, which is a status that can affect one’s health and overall wellbeing

“It is true as a nation, we are made up of different ethnic groups, with different cultures and traditions. However, those different cultures and traditions must not be used to divide us but must be our strength,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.

She referenced the injustice fought against during the liberation, saying that racism had relegated some residents to second-rate citizens, suggesting that tribalism could have similar implications.

“It is even worse when a black person is considered a foreigner in any part of Namibia, when considering that belonging to the dominant tribe group in that specific region,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah, adding that for prosperity for all to be assured, tribalism should be discarded.

“In fact, we are giving an opportunity to those who want Namibia’s resources not to serve our people and will take advantage of our tribal tendencies to divide us further, with the aim of destroying the Swapo party and taking over the country through any group they are able to control, in order to benefit from our resources,” she said.

She said it is more worrisome when the tribal tendencies are growing at a time when strategic resources such as oil and gas are being discovered in Namibia.

“We must safeguard our country by being united for a common purpose, as we are taught by our Founding President and Father of the Namibian Nation, Dr Sam Nujoma,” she added.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

A Farmer from the Mangetti area lost eleven goats worth N.dollars 14 300 due to theft at his Farm between June and October this year.

According to a crime report issued by the Namibian Police Force’s Deputy Commissioner for the Oshikoto Region, Inspector Peter Nakadhilu on Friday, an known adult suspect allegedly stole eleven goats from the complainant’s farm in the Mangetti area of the Oshikoto Region.

The case was opened after the 57-year-old farmer from Etombe village in Ohangwena reported the matter to the police. The suspect has not yet been arrested and none of the was recovered.

In a separate incident, two goats worth N.dollars 3 600 were allegedly stolen and slaughtered without the owner’s consent on Wednesday, 27 September 2023 at Farm Oerwoud in the Tsintsabis area.

Nakadhilu reported that pieces of one goat carcass were recovered and the suspect has not yet been arrested because he/she is unknown by the complainant at this stage.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demeke Mekonnen has today inaugurated a new state-of-the-art training and research center on Kaizen built in Addis Ababa with a 27.5 million USD grant from the Government of Japan.

The center will serve as a hub for African industrial human resource development, and it is expected to spread from Ethiopia throughout Africa.

The center will also provide trainings to employees of manufacturing companies, civil servants, vocational school teachers and Kaizen consultants from the Ethiopian Kaizen Institute on Kaizen methodology.

Kaizen focuses on continuous improvement, increasing productivity, enhancing quality and boosting competitiveness.

At the inauguration ceremony, JICA Senior Vice President Sachiko Imoto said the center will allow Kaizen consultants to provide lectures and hands-on Kaizen training to private sector employees.

She noted Kaizen could be a solution for improving productivity at manufacturing sites planned under Ethiopia’s ‘Let Ethiopia Produce’ national movement.

Imoto added that the center will be a hub for industrial human resource development in Ethiopia and across Africa. It will be a key venue for jointly promoting Kaizen on the continent.

The Kaizen Project is one of JICA’s flagship projects in Ethiopia. The center is expected to train thousands of individuals annually and will play a major role in helping the Ministry of Industry achieve its goals.

While inaugurating the state of the art facility, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demeke Mekonnen said the establishment of this center is one of the many expressions of friendship and longstanding cordial bilateral relationship between Ethiopia and Japan.

“We are glad that Ethiopia is becoming the Kaizen excellent center that serves the whole of Africa,” he said, adding Kaizen is embraced in Ethiopian governance system through programs launched in 2009.

We have been observing encouraging success stories in enterprises, which are utilizing Kaizen tools, he said. It is time to scaling up the experience to realize our development agenda, he added.

Minister of Industry, Melaku Alebel, said the KAIZEN excellence center represents a significant step forward in our journey towards continues improvement and growth.

“It is a testament to the unwavering commitment of our government, in collaboration with the people and government of Japan to invest in the future of our workforce and industries.”

The government of Japan, through JICA, has been resiliently capacitating our KAIZEN excellence center since 2009, the minister said.

KAIZEN has had a great impact on Ethiopia’s manufacturing industry. KAIZEN was being adapted by Ethiopians, he stated.

“We are aware that our industries have been benefiting from the KAIZEN disseminations. The improvement of quality has been improved from 5-46 percent, productivity 15-39 percent and generally speaking from improvement activities, production waste reduction and elimination efforts above five billion birr in monetary value have been registered.”

The Government of Ethiopia has adopted policies to use KAIZEN to further develop the manufacturing and services sectors, as well as hospitals and schools.

Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, ITO Takako, on her part said the center will serve as a hub for African industrial human resource development, and it is expected to spread from Ethiopia throughout Africa.

The Nairobi Declaration of TICAD 6 in 2018 pledged to increase the productivity in Africa by 30 percent through the expansion of the Kaizen Initiative throughout Africa as human infrastructure development is one of the priority areas of cooperation between Japan and Africa.

It is to be recalled that on September 30, 2019, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the construction of the TICAD Human Resource Development Center for Business and Industry (TICAD-HRD) the fund covered through Grant Aid from the Government of Japan.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The new Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy E. Pope arrived in Addis Ababa today for official working visit.

This visit is her 1st official trip since assuming office this month as Director-General of IOM.

During her stay in Ethiopia, she will hold meetings with the Government and the African Union Commission officials, donors, partners and IOM staff.

Pope is the first woman to lead this international organization in its more than 70-year-old history.

Established in 1951, the IOM is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. IOM is part of the United Nations system, as a related organization.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Kenyans who participated at this year’s Irreechaa festival said traditional events like this one are best platform to enhance people to people relations between Ethiopia and Kenya.

Irreechaa festival, which is an annual Thanksgiving holiday among the people of Oromo, was colorfully celebrated on Saturday and Sunday in Addis Ababa and Bishfotu town respectively.

The festival was attended by millions of people from across the country including foreign nationals and the Ethiopian diaspora.

Yessuf Dibab, from Kenya told ENA that Irreechaa is one of the best and most celebrated festivals in eastern, central Africa and Africa at large.

He and his teams have traveled almost three days to reach Ethiopia “because of one reason; to strengthen unity with Ethiopians by participating at the festival.

I’m so much proud to see my brothers and sisters; he said adding that this place is actually very beautiful and we share a common cultural background and that is why we are here to celebrate the festival.

Irreechaa is something that has really brought us together. expressing wish to recommend the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia to work together not only on cultural relation, but also on trade.

“Irreechaa festival is where most of people came together. It’s one of the largest festivals in East and Central Africa. And it has really brought us together. Imagine someone just walk from his home like me like all from Kenya up to here, just to come and celebrate together in peace, love and joy, that is really amazing and beautiful.”

He explained that the hospitality accorded to them was beyond expectations and he is so much grateful for that.

His fellow Dido Guracho on his part said along the way to Irreechaa celebration they received very good reception from Ethiopian officials and the regional government.

There are also many others from South Africa, Egypt and people who are coming from Europe and may be America to part take at the event.

“I would like to tell our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia that we should continue bonding ourselves together. And also we should continue to promote Irreechaa festival because this is one of the platforms that can bring us together; It’s an instrument that shows the unity and the love that we have for each other,” he said.

Abdulkerim Haji on his part explained that he and his team traveled almost 2,500 kilometers to come to Addis Ababa and the journey was epic and nice.

“It is my second time and all the love that we share, the bond between the Oromo in Ethiopia and the Oromos in Kenya is unimaginable.”

It is an event that brings all together to enable us share ideas in order to create integration in terms of politics and economy, he noted.

Husein Yessuf on his part said “I think when I go back; I have so many things to tell to my people in Kenya.”

Source: Ethiopian News Agency