Community service project doing well

THE Chairperson of the Community Service Order (CSO) pilot project in the Oshana Region, Magistrate Helena Ekandjo, has told Minister of Safety and Security Peter Tsheehama that the project is working well and has been accepted by the community.

However, she said a lot still had to be done to make the project a success story. The pilot project is being implemented in the Caprivi, Kavango, Oshana and Kunene regions, and Tsheehama is currently touring these regions to familiarise himself with the situation on the ground.At a meeting at Ondangwa last Wednesday, the Minister was told that 55 offenders had been sentenced to community service at different placement agencies in Oshana, Oshikoto and Ohangwena.Of this number, 34 have completed their sentences, 14 have defaulted and seven are still serving their sentences, said Oshana project co-ordinator Andreas Uutoni.He said all placement agencies were fully briefed on the concept of community service and communities were informed of the project on Oshiwambo Radio.However, Uutoni said a lack of fulltime staff to help committee members with administrative work, as well as a shortage of transport, were hampering the project in Oshana.The Oshana CSO committee recommended that a fulltime project co-ordinator be appointed in the region and that a dedicated department dealing with community service be established in the Ministry of Safety and Security.Minister Tsheehama said he was satisfied with the progress of the project in the northern regions.He said community service for petty offenders would help to reduce prison overcrowding.He said of the current 4 106 inmates in Namibian prisons, 51 per cent are petty offenders and only 14 per cent are hardcore criminals.”If we work hard with our efforts of CSO, we will reduce overcrowding in our jails and Police cells and will also rehabilitate those petty offenders and keep them away from hardcore criminals, who can easily influence them.”The Minister said because of the success of the pilot project in the North, it would be expanded to the other regions.The pilot project is being implemented in the Caprivi, Kavango, Oshana and Kunene regions, and Tsheehama is currently touring these regions to familiarise himself with the situation on the ground.At a meeting at Ondangwa last Wednesday, the Minister was told that 55 offenders had been sentenced to community service at different placement agencies in Oshana, Oshikoto and Ohangwena.Of this number, 34 have completed their sentences, 14 have defaulted and seven are still serving their sentences, said Oshana project co-ordinator Andreas Uutoni.He said all placement agencies were fully briefed on the concept of community service and communities were informed of the project on Oshiwambo Radio.However, Uutoni said a lack of fulltime staff to help committee members with administrative work, as well as a shortage of transport, were hampering the project in Oshana.The Oshana CSO committee recommended that a fulltime project co-ordinator be appointed in the region and that a dedicated department dealing with community service be established in the Ministry of Safety and Security.Minister Tsheehama said he was satisfied with the progress of the project in the northern regions.He said community service for petty offenders would help to reduce prison overcrowding.He said of the current 4 106 inmates in Namibian prisons, 51 per cent are petty offenders and only 14 per cent are hardcore criminals.”If we work hard with our efforts of CSO, we will reduce overcrowding in our jails and Police cells and will also rehabilitate those petty offenders and keep them away from hardcore criminals, who can easily influence them.”The Minister said because of the success of the pilot project in the North, it would be expanded to the other regions.