5 January 2009
Windhoek — DTA of Namibia Secretary General McHenry Venaani has called on Government officials and agencies that are currently distributing drought relief aid to stop claiming that the food is coming directly from the ruling Swapo Party.
Venaani claims that his office has received reports that officials are blatantly using poor communities' lack of knowledge to blackmail beneficiaries to in return comply with voting for the ruling party that gives them food.
The newly elected Secretary General said he is not surprised by the reports, alleging it is the habit of the ruling party to use donor aid or Government aid as a campaign tool before elections.
He noted that although the DTA is cognisant of the fact that aid comes through a Cabinet decision, the money is derived from the citizenry tax collections and thus cannot be used as a campaign tool of a certain political party.
Venaani urged the Namibian people to be vigilant and to be categorically clear that the Drought Relief Aid that they are receiving does not belong to any political party.
"The aid comes from national resources and those that are recipients are unequivocally entitled to it without any demand or favour of a vote."
He further called on the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to call the officials doing this to book without delay.
"We urge political parties from all divides to refrain from misinforming the electorate on the true conditions of issues and not use lack of knowledge as a conduit to gain popularity whatsoever."
Cabinet last year approved an amount of over N$200 million for the purpose of easing the pressure on poverty and drought stricken communities throughout the country.
The Deputy Director of Emergency Management Unit (EMU) in the Office of the Prime Minister Gabriel Kangowa said he could not comment on the allegations because he has been on leave for two weeks and has not received any such reports.
He noted that he will be back in office today and requested Venaani to be more specific about the allegations.
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Swapo has been doing this for a long time and thus we need to ask ourselves only one qouistion are we only for election purposes or what