Oshikoto Regional Council Chief Regional Officer, Christella Mwenyo said the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is going to commence with the drought relief programme for the 2023/2024 financial year soon.
She said this after Eengodi Constituency Councillor Protasius Neshuku requested Government and members of the public to provide food for his constituency.
Mwenyo in an interview with Nampa on Tuesday the regional council has a very limited budget to assist the constituency at the moment.
“The OPM has planned meetings to come to all the regions to give us details on how the new drought programme is going to work, so the meeting for Oshikoto Region will only be on 29 September and that is where we are going to get the new conditions of how this programme is going to work,” said Mwenyo.
She further said that as much as there are many in need, there will be strict criteria for who should be assisted and who will not receive assistance.
“The OPM is going to share with us the conditions of how this programme is going to work and that’s when we are going to start implementing the drought programme,” added Mwenyo.
Neshuku in an interview with Nampa on Monday said people from his constituency come to his office at Onamishu on a daily basis complaining of hunger.
“Around two to three people always come crying at our office, asking for food,” he said.
Neshuku said he sometimes receives phone calls from people saying they do not have anything to eat at their houses.
“We rarely receive food from the governor’s office to give to our people who are really in need, thus we want our government and any Samaritan to donate food to our office,” said the constituency councillor.
Neshuku said people depend heavily on their crop harvests here and the poor rainfall makes it difficult to harvest.
Eengodi Constituency is made up of about 70 villages.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency