Drought relief: Stolen food worth N$100 000 uncovered

Government’s attempts to feed the poor and vulnerable are being hampered as opportunists – mainly civil servants – allegedly divert the aid to themselves, and, in some instances, sell it.On Friday, a Namibian Police raid culminated in the seizure of stolen drought-relief food worth N$100 000 at a farm in the Oshikoto Region’s Guinas constituency. According to the police’s weekend crime report, the discovery was made at Leeu Pos Farm after an intelligence-led operation and a search was conducted. The food was found in the farmhouse.Oshikoto regional governor Penda Ya Ndakolo cautioned officials and members of the public to refrain from stealing food meant for the poor.“We must remember that the drought-relief food is only for the identified beneficiaries who have nothing to eat. We cannot allow a situation where this food is given to anyone [else]. We have the lists of the beneficiaries and only they must get this food,” he said yesterday.Accountability challengesAlleged incidents of corruption and food looting have been reported in several regions, with claims are being made that those in charge of the distributions are not delivering the food to needy families.The Leeu Pos discovery comes just months after the Ohangwena Region’s disaster risk management unit lost more than N$600 000 worth of cooking oil and other items from its warehouse due to theft. Seven employees were arrested in connection with the incident.Last month, drought-relief food worth N$39 000 was allegedly stolen from a warehouse at Katwitwi in Kavango West.The drought-relief programme has faced major accountability challenges in recent years. This according to findings in a performance audit report on the management of Namibia’s drought-relief programme for the two drought-declared financial years 2015/2016 and 2019/2020, with an extension until March 2022.The report by Auditor-General Junias Kandjeke noted that vulnerability assessments were conducted by the Office of the Prime Minister through the Namibia vulnerability assessment committee prior to implementing the programme.The assessments were necessary to determine the number of the people affected by the drought who needed food assistance and livelihood interventions. It was also used to develop selection criteria for the identification of food-insecure households for beneficiary targeting, it said.According to the report, during 2015/2016, the vulnerability assessment covered all the rural zones of the country in all 14 regions, while in the 2019/2020 drought period, only 1 833 (55%) of 3 300 rural households and 1 028 (60%) of 1 695 urban households were targeted for assessment in 12 regions.The //Karas and Khomas regions were not assessed during the 2019/2020 drought period.Numbers don’t add upThe assessments estimated that in 2015/2016, the beneficiaries for drought relief would total 578 480, and 257 383 in 2019/2020. However, the actual registered beneficiaries for 2015/2016 were 578 480 and 908 018 in 2019/2020.The audit further noted that food was not distributed on a monthly basis as required.According to the report, more people were registered because traditional authorities did not adhere to the set criteria during the registration process. The criteria were also not well communicated, which caused misinterpretation and therefore people who did not qualify were registered and distributed with drought-relief food.Meanwhile, “food was not received from the suppliers on a monthly basis”.In addition, food was also not distributed in full packages, which included cooking oil, maize meal and tinned fish, as some items took a long time to arrive to the regional councils’ warehouses, resulting in them distributing whatever they received, it said.Extensive delaysDistribution was mainly done by community members with no supervision from either the constituency or regional council offices, the audit noted. There were also extensive delays in processing farmers’ claims with regards to livelihood interventions. Fodder provided by government got spoiled before it was distributed, it said.Furthermore, it was found that the Office of the Prime Minister did not adequately monitor the implementation of the programme.“Although the Office of the Prime Minister conducted field visits during 2019/2020, the challenges highlighted in the reports were fact-finding, with no recommendations and no indication of responding to these challenges.”Progress reports on the implementation of the programme were not produced regularly, while an impact assessment was also not conducted to determine its efficiency and effectiveness to inform future planning, the audit noted.

Drought relief: Stolen food worth N$100 000 uncovered

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-01

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Drought relief: Stolen food worth N$100 000 uncovered

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-01

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