WAD urges govt to hasten 50/50 representation

Theresia Tjihenuna

KEYS ... (From left) Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation resident representative Holger Hai- bach; ACC Director Paulus Noa; governor of Hardap Region Katrina Hanse-Himarwa; WAD executive director Veronica de Klerk; Mariental Urban regional councillor, Barakias Namwandi; the Hardap Regional Director for Health and Social Services, Pumwe Katjiunajo; and Pas- tor Jan Gawaseb (back row) with the group of graduates.

De Klerk made the plea during the WAD 2013 Hardap Field Day in Mariental last week where 130 students graduated after completing months of training, under WAD instructors, in computer literacy, office administration and hospitality as well as tailoring.

The graduation ceremony also saw 40 community members and police officers from Mariental receiving certificates for undertaking studies in gender-related laws and aspects of the Namibian constitution.

During her speech De Klerk expressed concern over women’s silence on the new 50/50 representation adopted by the Swapo party.

“The question is: Is it because women are afraid to be put before a test to prove their capacities or is it because women have been promised too often in the past that a 50/50 representation will become a reality but it never materialised?” she asked.

De Klerk urged the government to enforce the 50/50 decision through legislation and that parties who fail to comply with the new legislation be disqualified from participating in the elections.

“WAD, therefore, respectfully and urgently urges the government to amend the current electoral laws to compel all political parties to adhere to this 50/50 representation requirement on all their party lists to speed up the attainment of this target and in so doing, honour the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. We only have two years to go,” she said.

Speaking at the same event, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Director Paulus Noa urged the graduates to use the skills they had acquired to not only empower themselves but to actively partake in the economic development of the country.

“You are ushered with new opportunities in your future endeavors but to succeed and make a positive contribution to the economy, you must have discipline and confidence in yourselves as young citizens of this country,” he advised them.

The Governor of the Hardap Region, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, urged the students to move away from seeking jobs and to become job-makers instead.

“Use the skills you have acquired to employ yourselves and others. Some will have a place on the job market but others must create jobs for themselves,” Hanse-Himarwa also advised.

Over the past 19 years WAD, with funding from the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation, has continued to fulfill its social role of addressing the challenges of skills’ shortage and high rate of unemployment in the country by improving young people’s chances of finding employment through various training programmes.

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation has also been funding a three-year project called “My Rights as a Woman and Namibian Citizen” which it co-funds with the European Union.