NKURENKURU, 08 MAY – The developmental state of the Kavango West Region still remains the same since its creation on 08 August 2013, governor Sirkka Ausiku said Tuesday.
Delivering her fourth State of the Region Address (SORA), Ausiku said her region, which is 99 per cent rural, has a high level of poverty as well as unemployment which according to the Labour Force Survey of 2016, stood at 36.4 per cent.
Among the youth, unemployment stands at 52.6 per cent.
She said development in the region is hampered by poor road infrastructure networks like feeder roads in the inland, inadequate water infrastructure, lack of rural electrification infrastructure, and limited telecommunication networks throughout the region.
“Furthermore, most of the inhabitants living along the Okavango River do not have safe drinking water and they depend on the river to draw water,” the governor said.
There is thus a need to construct a water pipeline along the national roads in the region to minimise human and wildlife conflicts, she suggested.
Ausiku said Kavango West is also faced with challenges of communal land administration, illegal fencing of land as well as traditional authorities allocating commonage areas to private individuals as farms without consulting the affected communities that use the areas for grazing.
Governors are primarily entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that programmes and projects in the region are fully implemented in line with the plans and budgetary provisions of different offices, ministries and agencies.
They are expected to periodically report on the implementation of these programmes and projects to the head of state, as well as to the leadership and community of the region.
Close to 100 residents attended the Kavango West SORA, including Chairperson of the Kavango West Regional Council Joseph Sivaku, regional councillors, traditional authorities, and heads of various offices, ministries and agencies.
NAMPA
