OMUTHIYA – The councillor for Eengodi constituency Protasius Neshuku shakes his head as he recalls the daily struggles faced by members of his community to access water for both humans and livestock, and the prospect of ponds drying up.
Neshuku has urged the community to brace themselves for the worst as they embark on the usual phenomenon of trekking long distances to draw the precious commodity that is central to their very existence.

“This remains one of the biggest challenges haunting our constituency. We are still lobbying to get piped water to the vast area but nothing, thus making it difficult for the majority to get clean drinking water. I should however say that four boreholes were drilled and installed in Onyati, Ontula, Onanime and Onadilu, but this is still not hundred percent fit for human consumption and only for livestock,” said Neshuku in an interview that highlighted various issues affecting the constituency.

Only a portion of the constituency on the western side has a pipeline but the catch is this water is characterised by low pressure and the water does not reach the targeted community. Residents sometimes go for weeks on end without a drop from their taps when water pressure is very low.

Covid-19 effect
According to the councillor, business operations in the constituency have witnessed a drastic decline in trading due to the Covid-19 pandemic that resulted in many small businesses being dormant even after the relaxation of the lockdown rules and regulations.
“Businesses have closed down, while the open ones are not generating enough income like before as people no longer visit their establishments due to fears of the disease. Others we deemed as big like supermarket no longer order items in bulk, fearing the unforeseen effects of Covid-19. People are struggling,” he said.

Poverty and Hunger
But despite having received good rainfall, which resulted in a good harvest among farmers across the country, Neshuku says his office is still inundated with requests for assistance from the community who are hungry. He said some did not have a good yields for various reasons such as ill-health and poor soil texture. “Nevertheless we are trying our best to give drought relief food when available to those in need.”
On the other hand, the councillor said he was busy registering upcoming entrepreneurs that sell baked scones, cookies, cakes and bread in order for them to receive training from Namib Mills and they are also being given financial and business advice on how to grow crops.  Farmers are also being registered to receive training on how to manage and breed livestock to high standards so that they can sell them and generate income. 

“I would therefore like to inform my community that we are busy working hard to bring much needed services no matter how small it may look. But we are hampered by financial challenges and we (constituency) don’t have our own budget to allow us to address our issues locally. As it stands, we work with whatever little is decided and allocated by central government, which is not enough or intended for lesser priority projects,” he said.
– osimasiku@nepc.com.na