Full Story
Food rots as people go hungry
By: LINDSAY DENTLINGERSOME 18 400 bags of maize meal intended for flood and drought relief to needy people are rotting in a military warehouse outside Katima Mulilo, seemingly because officials are not being paid overtime to deliver the food.
At a time when the Caprivi Region is once again pleading for
assistance to feed thousands of hungry people - there have not been
enough rains to produce even a meagre harvest - thousands of
bottles of cooking oil, packets of instant rice and tins of
biscuits are being eaten by mice and monkeys.
Secretary to Cabinet Frans Kapofi was told by an official at the
town yesterday that a decision by the Prime Minister's Office last
September that aid distributors could no longer claim overtime,
could be the reason why food aid was not delivered to displaced
flood victims after they returned home.
Livid about the situation, Kapofi flew to the region yesterday
at the order of the President and the Prime Minister after a
tip-off to his office last week that around N$45 000 worth of aid
was going to waste.
"It's the worst case of negligence this country has seen where
people's lives are at stake," Kapofi told The Namibian, angered
with the leadership of the Regional Emergency Management Unit
(Remu).
It is believed that the 12,5-kilogramme bags of maize meal,
stored at the M'pacha Army Base, could have been in storage for
almost a year.
A bag of maize meal, as packaged for relief purposes, has a
shelf life of around six months.
A truck driver delivering bags of rice donated by India to the
warehouse last week alerted the Cabinet secretariat to the rotting
food.
Caprivi Governor and Chairperson of the Remu, Bernhard
Sibalatani, informed Cabinet last Wednesday that health inspectors
had declared the food, described by officials as "mysterious
spoiled stock", unfit for human consumption.
"I am going to report back [to the President and the Prime
Minister] that the leadership has been negligent.
It was never intended to be stored like that.
It was supposed to be given to the people," Kapofi told the
media after his visit.
He was accompanied to the Caprivi by the Deputy Director of the
Emergency Management Unit (EMU), Gabriel Kangowa, and Erica
Ndiyepa, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Regional and
Local Government, Housing and Rural Development.
With neither Sibalatani nor any of the emergency relief team
able to explain the presence of the "mysterious stock" in the
military warehouse, the Police have now been called in to
investigate.
Yesterday morning, close to 40 heads of departments and units
from various Ministries were summoned to a meeting at the
Governor's office to inform them of the situation and to request
their input on what they know about the rotting food.
"It is not a usual practice that we discuss our business under
the watchful eye of journalists, but they have the right to hear
what has been going on in their capacity as citizens of this
country," Kapofi told the gathering.
"We can't sweep these things under the carpet."
NO ANSWERS But it did little in the way of providing answers as
to how long the maize meal had been stored there, why it had not
been distributed, or who gave the orders for officials to stop the
distribution.
"The news that has reached Government that there is spoiled food
here is very, very true and very, very correct," is all Sibalatani
could offer.
The commanding officer at the M'pacha Army Base, Lieutenant
Colonel Fillemon Heita, said he had informed the Governor's office
that the food was going to waste a month ago, when he spotted mouse
trails around the warehouse during a monthly inspection of the
base.
Sibalatani told the meeting that his investigations over the
last two weeks had yielded no answers to why food was being stored
instead of being distributed.
He blamed officials for a "lack of co-operation" and said he had
decided to call in the Police last week.
"We still have no comprehensive report.
The investigations are still nowhere," he told the meeting.
One official, who previously worked in the Remu offices,
maintained that a directive on overtime payment from the Prime
Minister's Office on September 20 could have led to the deliveries
being stopped.
He could, however, not say who had given the order to stop the
distribution.
By that time people displaced by last year's floods had returned
to their villages, but Government had pledged to continue providing
them with aid because they had no harvest.
Kapofi refused to accept this reasoning.
He said officials were paid for an eight-hour working day and,
apart from that, could not let their own people starve simply
because they were not being paid overtime.
"These are our own people.
Just imagine, this food is delivered from Windhoek, shipped from
other countries and people here are refusing to deliver it to our
people.
You have from eight until five.
What are you doing? You want public money but you don't want to
serve them and you call yourself a Government official," he
fumed.
Kapofi said those involved in allowing the food to rot could
just as well "start packing their bags."
Another official said transport problems were hampering
distribution, because a helicopter used during the height of the
evacuations was withdrawn from operation once the floodwaters
subsided.
'NO ONE TOLD US' He maintained that the emergency task team had
not been "mandated" nor "instructed" on how the food should be
transported to the villages after flood victims had returned
home.
"It doesn't matter which people got the food, whether it is for
the east or the west, drought or flood, as long as this food gets
to the people.
If we were told about this situation, we would have done
something to ensure the food got to the people," Kapofi told
officials.
While the region was hit by life-threatening floods in the
eastern floodplains, those in the west were suffering from
drought.
When the Windhoek delegation arrived at the warehouse to inspect
the condition of the 230 tons of maize meal, a lot of clean-up work
had apparently been done as regional officials were informed of
Kapofi's trip.
However, Kapofi and his team had already seen pictures of the
state of the stock before travelling to Katima Mulilo and it had
been reported that many of the damaged bags of food had already
been thrown away.
"They will have to come up with very good reasons to get food
for this coming season," said Kangowa.
At the time of their visit, several workers had not only
restacked the maize bags, but were packing the recently delivered
50-kilogram bags of rice.
Remu in Caprivi uses a warehouse in town as its main store for
food aid.
Chief Regional Officer Raymond Matiti said officials might have
"forgotten" about the stockpiles at the military warehouse, 20
kilometres outside the town, at the height of the distribution
process.
Kapofi said he was not immediately convinced that all the food
was spoiled and would send a health inspection team to the region
soon to test the food.
He said given this situation, Government would struggle to
obtain international food aid in future.
With the Caprivi having received minimal rainfall this year,
people have once again been unable to produce a harvest and many
are said to be going hungry.
Secretary to Cabinet Frans Kapofi was told by an official at the
town yesterday that a decision by the Prime Minister's Office last
September that aid distributors could no longer claim overtime,
could be the reason why food aid was not delivered to displaced
flood victims after they returned home.Livid about the situation,
Kapofi flew to the region yesterday at the order of the President
and the Prime Minister after a tip-off to his office last week that
around N$45 000 worth of aid was going to waste."It's the worst
case of negligence this country has seen where people's lives are
at stake," Kapofi told The Namibian, angered with the leadership of
the Regional Emergency Management Unit (Remu).It is believed that
the 12,5-kilogramme bags of maize meal, stored at the M'pacha Army
Base, could have been in storage for almost a year.A bag of maize
meal, as packaged for relief purposes, has a shelf life of around
six months. A truck driver delivering bags of rice donated by India
to the warehouse last week alerted the Cabinet secretariat to the
rotting food.Caprivi Governor and Chairperson of the Remu, Bernhard
Sibalatani, informed Cabinet last Wednesday that health inspectors
had declared the food, described by officials as "mysterious
spoiled stock", unfit for human consumption. "I am going to report
back [to the President and the Prime Minister] that the leadership
has been negligent.It was never intended to be stored like that.It
was supposed to be given to the people," Kapofi told the media
after his visit.He was accompanied to the Caprivi by the Deputy
Director of the Emergency Management Unit (EMU), Gabriel Kangowa,
and Erica Ndiyepa, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of
Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development.With
neither Sibalatani nor any of the emergency relief team able to
explain the presence of the "mysterious stock" in the military
warehouse, the Police have now been called in to
investigate.Yesterday morning, close to 40 heads of departments and
units from various Ministries were summoned to a meeting at the
Governor's office to inform them of the situation and to request
their input on what they know about the rotting food."It is not a
usual practice that we discuss our business under the watchful eye
of journalists, but they have the right to hear what has been going
on in their capacity as citizens of this country," Kapofi told the
gathering."We can't sweep these things under the carpet."NO ANSWERS
But it did little in the way of providing answers as to how long
the maize meal had been stored there, why it had not been
distributed, or who gave the orders for officials to stop the
distribution."The news that has reached Government that there is
spoiled food here is very, very true and very, very correct," is
all Sibalatani could offer.The commanding officer at the M'pacha
Army Base, Lieutenant Colonel Fillemon Heita, said he had informed
the Governor's office that the food was going to waste a month ago,
when he spotted mouse trails around the warehouse during a monthly
inspection of the base.Sibalatani told the meeting that his
investigations over the last two weeks had yielded no answers to
why food was being stored instead of being distributed.He blamed
officials for a "lack of co-operation" and said he had decided to
call in the Police last week."We still have no comprehensive
report.The investigations are still nowhere," he told the
meeting.One official, who previously worked in the Remu offices,
maintained that a directive on overtime payment from the Prime
Minister's Office on September 20 could have led to the deliveries
being stopped.He could, however, not say who had given the order to
stop the distribution.By that time people displaced by last year's
floods had returned to their villages, but Government had pledged
to continue providing them with aid because they had no
harvest.Kapofi refused to accept this reasoning.He said officials
were paid for an eight-hour working day and, apart from that, could
not let their own people starve simply because they were not being
paid overtime."These are our own people.Just imagine, this food is
delivered from Windhoek, shipped from other countries and people
here are refusing to deliver it to our people.You have from eight
until five.What are you doing? You want public money but you don't
want to serve them and you call yourself a Government official," he
fumed.Kapofi said those involved in allowing the food to rot could
just as well "start packing their bags."Another official said
transport problems were hampering distribution, because a
helicopter used during the height of the evacuations was withdrawn
from operation once the floodwaters subsided.'NO ONE TOLD US' He
maintained that the emergency task team had not been "mandated" nor
"instructed" on how the food should be transported to the villages
after flood victims had returned home."It doesn't matter which
people got the food, whether it is for the east or the west,
drought or flood, as long as this food gets to the people.If we
were told about this situation, we would have done something to
ensure the food got to the people," Kapofi told officials.While the
region was hit by life-threatening floods in the eastern
floodplains, those in the west were suffering from drought.When the
Windhoek delegation arrived at the warehouse to inspect the
condition of the 230 tons of maize meal, a lot of clean-up work had
apparently been done as regional officials were informed of
Kapofi's trip.However, Kapofi and his team had already seen
pictures of the state of the stock before travelling to Katima
Mulilo and it had been reported that many of the damaged bags of
food had already been thrown away."They will have to come up with
very good reasons to get food for this coming season," said
Kangowa.At the time of their visit, several workers had not only
restacked the maize bags, but were packing the recently delivered
50-kilogram bags of rice.Remu in Caprivi uses a warehouse in town
as its main store for food aid.Chief Regional Officer Raymond
Matiti said officials might have "forgotten" about the stockpiles
at the military warehouse, 20 kilometres outside the town, at the
height of the distribution process.Kapofi said he was not
immediately convinced that all the food was spoiled and would send
a health inspection team to the region soon to test the food.He
said given this situation, Government would struggle to obtain
international food aid in future.With the Caprivi having received
minimal rainfall this year, people have once again been unable to
produce a harvest and many are said to be going hungry.
