Millions down the drain

A group of 350 young people, who were among the struggle kids that were thrown a N$11.3 million lifeline by President Hage Geingob when he approved the diverting of Social Security Commission (SSC) funds for their training, say they have been left starved and virtually untrained at Berg Aukas.

The students say their skills training - which was supposed to prepare them for entry-level jobs at state-owned enterprises - has ground to a halt amid crippling financial difficulties.

When Namibian Sun visited the training centre near Grootfontein in the Otjozondjupa Region recently, the current intake of 350 struggle kids said the government had no money to train them and that they were starving, as the centre often had no food for them.

The ministry has since confirmed that the trainees have been sent home, but denied that it was because they were starving.

The trainees said they were only receiving civic training offered by members of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF), since there was no money to recruit other trainers.

The NDF, like many government ministries, offices and agencies, has frozen all vacancies amid continued cutbacks in state spending.

“We are suffering here; the government is struggling to feed us. There are so many days when there is nothing for us to eat. There is nothing much we are doing here apart from the civic training that we are receiving from the NDF members,” said a struggle kid that chose to remain anonymous.

The food shortage was confirmed by the kitchen staff, who said the whole of last week the centre had no food to offer them.

It is not known how the SSC money is being utilised, as the head of the training centre, Chris Kakuzike, refused to comment, saying the youth ministry could do so.

Berg Aukas is said to be without instructors after the ministry failed to retain an agreement that saw volunteers from Nigeria equipping Namibians with various skills.

It was reported that the centre stopped taking in trainees in 2015 to 2016, when Geingob approved the release of the SSC funds to train only the children of the liberation struggle.

At the time the money from the SSC Development Fund was released to assist the struggle kids, there was public uproar.

This was because these funds were for unemployed young people to advance themselves by training for specific jobs, as well as for grants, bursaries, loans and other financial aid for tertiary students.





At the time, the government said the money would be used to send some of the struggle kids to train at Berg Aukas and Plessisplaas in Omaheke.

They were expected to receive accommodation, food and a monthly allowance. Part of the funding was to have been used for training at the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT).

The trainees were also to receive N$375 per month as an allowance.

At the time of the money transfer, Geingob shot down allegations that he had taken some of the money meant for the struggle kids to spend on himself during his stay in the United States, where he was on a nearly month-long trip to lobby for investment in the country.

Geingob also attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“I am not that cheap. I am not a commodity. I have never asked anybody for a cent,” he was quoted as saying.

Namibian Sun was told during its visit to Berg Aukas that the training centre normally bought food from shops in Grootfontein, but these were cash transactions. Once the money was spent, there was nothing for the trainees to eat.

Among the successes of the SSC fund transfer was the graduation of about 243 struggle kids who completed training at the Simon Mutumba training centre in Zambezi last year.

The students had received seven months of civic and vocational training courses and were immediately provided with jobs at various government institutions.



Nigerian volunteers

Berg Aukas stopped taking in other young people in 2014 following the termination of the Nigerian volunteer programme, which started in 2009.

Since then the youth ministry has been hiring local volunteers on five-month contracts to train struggle kids only.

From 2009 Namibia, through the ministry of youth, had received about 30 Nigerian volunteer instructors on two-year contracts. The Nigerian government took full responsibility for these instructors, while the Namibian government only provided them with accommodation.

The Namibian government terminated this agreement in 2014.

A source told Namibian Sun that the contract was terminated by senior government officials who had criticised the ministry for doing nothing to train Namibian trainers to take over from the Nigerians.

They alleged that the Nigerian volunteers only served their two years without training Namibians to take over.

In 2015, former youth minister Jerry Ekandjo accompanied senior officials from his ministry to Nigeria to renew the contract, but the renewal was later blocked by the same government officials.

Current youth minister Erastus Uutoni confirmed he was informed that the centre had sent home the struggle kids last week.

He claimed it was for a break and not because they were starving.

He could not provide answers to the other questions posed by Namibian Sun, saying the ministry's spokesperson, Aina Shikesho, would attend to them.

ILENI NANDJATO