N$50m police station for Onkumbula

GOVERNENT is building a N$50 million police station at Onkumbula in the Okankolo constituency of the Oshikoto region.

This will be a class C station, and is expected to serve Okankolo, Eengodi, Nehale lya Mpingana and some parts of the Okongo constituency.

A class C police station has offices, barracks, senior officers’ houses, cells and a filling station for police vehicles.

The Onkumbula police station will also have a kraal, where the stock theft unit will keep stolen livestock. The construction of the police station started in June last year, and is expected to be completed by next year.

Okankolo councillor Hans Nambadi told The Namibian yesterday that the station was long overdue.

He said people in need of police assistance have to seek help at the Okatope, Okongo, Onayena or Oshivelo police stations, to where they sometimes have to travel hundreds of kilometres.

“It is a good thing that we have been waiting for. Our people have been suffering for a long time when they wanted to report crime, or access other services. This police station will solve many problems,” Nambadi said.

He added that the construction of the police station was just one of many successful projects embarked on in the constituency, as 18km of water pipelines to rural schools are also about to be completed. The affected schools are Onamukuku, Ashihaya and Othimbika.

Another project nearing completion is a community hall with a seating capacity of 700 at the Onyuulaye centre. This facility is about 99% complete, Nambadi said.

He stated that water provision remains a challenge in the constituency, and pointed out that areas east of Onkumbula, such as Omakango, Omunduta, Omhuuda and Omutwewomedi still face acute water shortages.

Other challenges in the constituency are a shortage of clinics, gravel roads to rural schools, high unemployment amongst the youth, and a lack of services such as banking services, as well as most government services which are not available in his or the neighbouring constituencies.

“People who want identification documents such as ID cards and birth certificates still travel long distances to towns to obtain them,” he said, adding that at times people have to overnight somewhere.

Festus Nampala, a resident of the Onkumbula village, applauded government for building the police station in their area.

He said at the moment, criminals were not bothered because they know police take hours to attend to complaints in the area.

“Once it [the police station] is completed, crime, such as stock theft and burglaries, will drop,” he said, adding that the construction activities have also created short-term employment for some youth in the area.

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