By Surihe Gaomas
RUNDU
Namibians must continually uphold their hard-won freedom and not take it for granted as it was won through the blood of the country’s heroes and heroines.
This was said by Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture when he delivered the Independence speech of President Hifikepunye Pohamba at Kapako Village in the Kavango Region on Wednesday.
“We must always honour the heroes and heroines for our independence. We must always respect them as they fought and died for the freedom we have enjoyed for the past 17 years today,” said Mutorwa.
As early as six o’clock in the morning, villagers from all walks of life gathered at the Kapako Tribal Hall to mark the country’s 17th Independence Day this week.
It was indeed a colourful event. Many of them put on their best clothes and waved independence flags as they entered the hall.
Addressing a crowd of 600 people in the hall, Mutorwa stressed that Namibians should not be reckless with the hard-won freedom, but do everything in their power to uphold it by working hard.
“It was 106 years of oppression from the colonial rulers, so we must never be reckless with our freedom. Let’s honour our heroes and heroines by working hard now,” said Mutorwa as he delivered the Head of State’s speech.
He explained the significance of the independence message to the attentive crowd.
Education was the first on the agenda of the President’s speech, where efforts have been made over years of independence to make it more accessible to all Namibians.
“The idea is to broaden access to education especially in the rural areas. Therefore, government has put up the Education Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP),”said Mutorwa, adding that Pre-Primary education has also been incorporated into the mainstream.
Regarding health service delivery, Mutorwa informed the people that there are still many challenges, the most critical being HIV/Aids.
“Despite interventions, the bad news is that the number of Aids orphans is increasing. Government has, however, intervened with social grants, but we as Namibians need to play our part as well in preventing this disease,” he added.
In light of this, Mutorwa urged young people to make responsibly mature choices when it comes to keeping themselves safe from being infected with the HIV virus.
“The youth of today, you cannot allow yourselves to be careless. You must protect yourselves, otherwise Namibia will not have a future,” added Mutorwa.
Other developmental issues the Head of State touched on were those of rural development, agriculture, tourism, direct foreign investment and the decentralization policy.
Mutorwa noted that although rural electrification is going well and has been successful in most parts of the country, attention should also be given to the palaces of traditional leaders, where electricity is non-existent.
“For some of the palaces of traditional leaders, the lines are there but are not yet connected. Therefore, I appeal to the responsible ministry to speed up this process,” added Mutorwa.
Over the past 17 years, decentralization of services and development is changing the face of many towns in the country. For instance, Mutorwa noted that the once bushy area of what is today the Rundu Sports Stadium, has been transformed dramatically.
“The very first rally in Rundu was when the Founding Father, Dr Sam Nujoma, addressed the rally on Resolution 435 here at the Rundu Sports Stadium, which was just a bush area back in 1989,” he said.
Now, with businesses flourishing at the town, there are visible signs of expansion and development through decentralization.
At Kapako, the Independence Day celebration ended on a moving note, when all orphans, widows and widowers were called to the front to receive a prayer of blessing from Father Joseph Hatutale.
The day also marked the birthday of Hompa of the Mbunza Tribe, Alfons Kaundu, who turned 53.