Criminals cash in on drought misery

OSHAKATI MERJA IILEKA

Unscrupulous people, entrusted with the responsibility of distributing drought relief food to the hungry masses in the Omusati Region, are allegedly registering ghost recipients as a means to make a quick buck.
Others have allegedly resorted to corruptly selling emergency food relief supplied by government at Ruacana to rescue the estimated 20 000 inhabitants from starvation.
Ruacana councillor Abasti Iipinge told Namibian Sun that since the discovery of the corrupt activities, the police has been notified and it was only a matter of time before those guilty were charged and arrested.
We trust the communities in the villages to register people who are drought stricken, but instead they are adding names of people and when we distribute the food they keep the food for themselves, said a disappointed Iipinge.
The news of ghost recipients receiving food aid comes in the wake of President Hifikepunye Pohamba officially declaring a state of emergency, as drought continues to ravage the country.
Pohamba also warned on Friday that the drought situation should not be used by the corrupt as a means to cash in .
The long arm of the law will catch up with those who think that they can get rich quick on the plight of our nation. I therefore call upon our citizens to report cases of corruption to the relevant authorities during the procurement and distribution of drought relief, Pohamba said.
He added: State resources should be used to address the plight of our citizens, therefore the government will not tolerate the privatisation of State assets such as the fencing off of boreholes.
Earlier last week Prime Minister Dr Hage Geingob warned that relief supplies may not be hoarded and sold to the poor, who government is trying to assist.
Let us ensure that poverty of the mind is not allowed to exacerbate the effects of real poverty in our regions, Geingob said.
Speaking after his meeting with community members at Otjihitwa village on Thursday afternoon, Iipinge said it has also emerged that some distributors of emergency food relief were selling bags of 12,5kg of maize for N$10.
We are in the process of arresting these people. They are known. This is a clear indication that people are abusing food given to the people in need, said Iipinge.
Another problem encountered during the distribution was that some of the food relief was being given to Angolans, who crossed the 'natural border' to collect food aid.
According to Iipinge, Angolans are also experiencing severe drought in their country and many have registered themselves for food relief at the expense of Namibians.
The food is given to the people in the Ruacana area and some of these people, we have discovered, are Angolans. These are some of the challenges we are facing, he said.
Iipinge also expressed frustration with the lack of available transport to deliver the food aid to those hardest hit by the drought situation.
The Omusati Region remains the hardest hit region in the country, with over 45 000 people said to be effected.
He explained that while there was sufficient emergency food supplies in their warehouse, lack of transport meant that only those in and around Ruacana were getting the bags of maize, while those in remote areas continue to be neglected.
Those most affected, he said, were predominately the Ovahimba, the Ovazemba, the Ovaherero tribes, as well as the San community.
I submitted transport quotations three weeks ago, but still no word. This is very frustrating because we need to travel over 200km to reach the people and there are no available vehicles. People are starving, Iipinge said.