Pohamba's son in water firing line

A group of 500 residents have been left angry, irritated and frustrated by the actions of Ondobe constituency councillor Mandume Pohamba, who they say blundered by installing a useless 60mm water pipeline that has only been used by three residents to connect water at their homesteads.

After the water pipeline was installed the community received a public tap that broke ten months ago and has never been repaired.

The community then thought it was best to apply for private water meter connections to their homesteads, only to be slapped with the decision that this cannot happen. This is because of the small diameter of the pipeline, which would supply a slow trickle if all the homesteads were connected.

The villagers said they volunteered to dig the hole for the pipeline after they were promised by Pohamba that once it was installed they could apply for water connections to their homesteads. That never happened, apart from three households being connected, which Pohamba confirmed to Namibian Sun when contacted for comment.





When asked why he allowed the government to install a pipeline that could not be used for private connections, he said the main concern was to get water for the people, and that was done.

“Access to potable water was a challenge for the people for many years and we managed to give them a pipeline. I understand they want to get connected to the pipeline but it cannot happen as the pipeline is small and if people are allowed to connect the pressure will be slow and people will complain again.

“We will just have to wait until funds become available and then we can think about the possibility of installing a larger one,” Pohamba said.

Ismael Hambudi, who is the head of the Ohangwena rural water supply directorate, said Pohamba was advised that the pipeline was too narrow and could not be used for private water connections in the future, but he insisted.

“This is a small pipeline and he (Pohamba) knows the problem, it's the pressure…

“He is the one who was crying for that pipeline and we told him in the beginning that this will not allow most of the people to get water, because it was just to alleviate a shortage of water and probably to address the problem at a later stage (sic). Therefore people will not be allowed to take water from the pipeline,” Hambudi said.



Tit-for-tat

Pohamba said the pipeline had been damaged at various points and the matter was reported to the water supply directorate, but to no avail.

He said water officials were always giving him excuses about a shortage of vehicles and materials.

“We report these issues, but the officials will tell you there is either no vehicle or materials. There are times we assist by availing our vehicles to go and get them,” Pohamba said.

Pohamba said currently the main water meter for the pipeline that stretches from Okanghudi to Onamunama has been closed, because of damage.

Hambudi refuted the claims made by Pohamba, saying he was not aware of any issues reported regarding the Okanghudi-Onamunama pipeline that needed to be attended to.

He admitted that some of the directorate's vehicles could be in a bad state.

Regarding allegations that matters had been reported and not attended to, Hambudi said he would look into that.

KENYA KAMBOWE