SMS Of Friday 18 September 2009

* I AM ecstatic about the new anti-smoking law and look forward to it being implemented so that we can all take a deep gasp of fresh air!

Food For Thought* I AM a born Namibian! No ballot paper or politician can change that. So it’s my right to complain about anything I think is right or wrong. No matter whether I voted or not.- RastaPolitics* I WAS utterly astonished to see media reports showing President (Hifikepunye) Pohamba receiving election materials from a Pakistani company. Was the President aware of the conflict of interest inherent in the donation? Is he aware that this company is being refused a permanent work permit by the Home Affairs Ministry? Is it allowed for a foreign company to donate money to political parties? Can companies give money to all political parities? The President should be careful not to be party to corrupting influence of Asian big business. * HOW could the mighty Swapo Party accept such an open bribe in broad daylight in front of the Namibian population and call it a donation? I wonder what legal status those Pakistanis have in the Republic of Namibia? Maybe they are already citizens. Whenever there is a donation involving millions of dollars someone will soon be apprehended for corruption. You give to get something in return, so that can never and will never be a donation. Don’t be fooled anymore!* N$2,5 million. I am happy for Swapo, but I don’t know if foreign electoral donations to presidential candidates should be allowed. I know that in USA it would be illegal for presidential candidates to accept donations from outside. This is so that election outcomes aren’t affected by foreign interests, whatever they may be.* THE Swapo website is full of hate speech while the section on the election is blank. Not even a copy of the manifesto to download. This is not the Swapo we used to know.* PARTIES’ manifestos please be realistic! Ending the ‘Panado syndrome’? Point of information, Panado is one of the safest medicines. In fact it is being used globally. And on offering free education up to the level of PhD? That will be the day!* WHY are Ndilimani songs in Oshiwambo only and not in other Namibian languages?* POLITICS and education aren’t twins. Folks, we all go to Poly for one reason – education. Please don’t wear party attire on campus. Just imagine the atmosphere on campus if everyone puts on his/her party colours. NB, all parties do organise rallies, right? Go there fully dressed, head to toe.- Bigifish* IF the Head of Unam’s Gender Unit is a man, how come he claims Swapo’s NA list is a step backwards in women’s upliftment? – Boom-Boom* POLICIES and strategies are needed to help the poor citizens. The GRN must introduce a policy which will help the poor to get their daily bread. I know that the GRN has done a lot, but what is needed is a daily bread. In our country there are many people who are struggling to get daily food. They are not suffering because of their negligence, but because of being unlucky to get a job. Therefore the GRN must do something to them, even to select the committees to conduct a survey. Do it region by region, constituency by constituency, village by village, house by house, to trace the citizens suffering most. They must conduct interviews with each householder, in order to ask them how they survive. And householders must gives the names to committees of their honest ones who can help them in case of being given the job. After the outcomes and findings, the committee must collect the names given to them and hand them over to different suitable ministries in case of posts available.City Fathers Please …* MUNICIPALITY of Windhoek, is your street tarred? Of course. What about Sabi Street? Please, please it’s now 20 years! I see you are grading the street again. I hope you are tarring the street this time. We have paid our bills for years, just like everyone else and deserve better. – Sick and tired* I KNOW this will be heard by the authorities via your most read paper. Can City of Windhoek please put at least a 4-way stop at the road from the Cardboard Box to the Polytech. Students get late due to taxis having to wait to cross to Polytech.- HelmuthHot Debate* CAN the Roads Authority please tell the nation if it is only a hazard to drink and drive but not to smoke and drive because I believe both are dangerous.- Leo ya NuuguluThose Scanners* I AM just a curious citizen who wants to know about 120m scanners from China since I heard that they are here. Are they still warehoused at the harbour? When they will be installed to serve their purpose? The Namibian team, could you update us on this please. – Michael, WanahedaElection Fever* THE ECN Regional Co-ordinator in the Kavango Region is being ruled by his assistant co-ordinators. A civil servant is supposed to be in every registration team to take care and control over GRN property. But because one official responsible for Rundu rural west and Mpungu constituency has a personal vendetta with one civil servant, the mobile team in Rundu urban consists only of unemployed.* THE ECN took in unemployed people and sent them to farms to register voters without a penny, having to provide their own food and own accommodation. Don’t they think that poor people will starve? And they want the best from those people. Is that how it must be?- Omaheke* HOW can we suffer like this in Omaheke ECN, not knowing how much we are working for on black and white. We didn’t even sign a contract before we started without work. We stayed until late waiting for cars. There are no T-shirts, caps or name tags to show people we are working for as ECN workers. Please improve.* WHAT is wrong with the ECN? Where are the materials for registration? Why so late? The previous director was well organised.* ECN is supposed to make use of alternative modes of transport and not utilise GRN vehicles, thereby showing their independence.- Stephanus, Walvis Bay* NAMIBIANS, let us improve on the way we care for one another and stop being self-centred/selfish. Those of us who have jobs should let the jobless please participate in the elections to at least earn something temporarily. I beg you to please withdraw from ECN programmes and give the unemployed a chance. God will reward you for your love and care for thy neighbour. God bless you!Ex-soldiers On The March* HOW is it that at the very whiff of a pyramid investment scheme, the Police are all over those involved; yet a scam targeting ex-SWATF members supposedly has their hands tied. It stinks!Bouquets And Brickbats* I USED only to buy The Namibian only on Fridays just because of the Weekender but that has changed now. I buy it every day to read the SMS page. That’s the best part of ‘tell it like it is’. ECN you are missing out big time, that’s if you don’t read the SMS page.- Dido, Swakop* [JUAN Martin] Del Potro did us proud by ending [Roger] Federer’s reign. You go man! Federer might be a best player but entertainer (like Agassi, Kuerten, Nadal and Rafter) he is definitely not! * I WOULD like to appreciate the job done by cleaners at the Onandjokwe Hospital, specifically in Ward 9. Whoever is their supervisor, keep up the good job. Notes For NBC* NBC. Why can’t you link radio broadcasts to the satellite in order for the whole country to benefit equally?* NO value for our money. Despite paying our TV licences annually, NBC is undermining and depriving its viewers of important events. Imagine wanting to watch Ali Nuumbembe fight last weekend but it was not broadcast. NBC must take an example from the SABC which broadcasts live important national, regional as well as international events, (sport, politic etc). We deserve quality service proportional to the expensiveness of NBC TV licences.* WE the citizens of Vaalgras are suffering because of a lack of NBC coverage. Till when should we suffer? Minister do something on this please.Questions for the NBC* THE NBC-TV licence advert is a flop. Did New Era newspaper and Swapo Party pay for the advert? It also implies that ladies can’t afford newspapers and lastly they have used a pirate taxi. Please use TVs next time.* PLEASE NBC, you need three channels or two, like SABC1 and SABC2. Then one channel can focus more on broadcasting live matches. Improve your service people.Spy Bill* WHY the Spy Bill all of a sudden when a lot that cannot be recovered has already been lost into the pockets of the untouchables. We suggest that instead please use the taxpayers’ money for things that will benefit the nation at large: renovate the disgusting government buildings and invest in our education and think of investing money on productive things to generate income for this developing country! Not spying!! General* COULD someone in the know define or explain what love is. Why is it that men beat or kill their wives whom they claim to love?* DEAREST reader, I don’t want to use the SMS page as a debating space, however, in my response I state ‘most of those deaf are Zimbabweans’ not ‘the only’ as you put it, get it clear, and if we’re to make proven facts, the three you stated are less than the majority of the Zimbabweans doing that. We are not against their stay but the fact is most of them have falsified letters which carry letterheads such as ‘Namibian Deaf Association’, ‘Association of the Deaf in Namibia’ etc. What’s your point here? – Uncle Paul* IF the Teka Trio did indeed earn commission what provision have they made for payment of their income tax? Is Yang registered for income tax and does he have a work permit? Ministry of Finance and Home Affairs please note.Running The Show* MY question is to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Who is qualified to sell in the street? Do I need a kapana business plan in order to qualify and sell my kapana? * MINISTRY of Labour and Social Welfare please stop with what you call one-on-one verifications yearly of elderly people in Namibia. Please Deputy Minister of Labour (Petrus) Iilonga appoint a Director for Social Welfare Division.* TO Mr [Richard] Kamwi Minister of Health, I want you to create promotional posts of principal registered nurses and deputy principal registered nurses at all clinics because this will at least motivate your nurses to manage the clinics as required. Create also promotional posts of deputy principal registered nurses at all health centres. How can you expect a principal nurse alone, without a deputy, to run and manage such a busy health centre in this era of many new diseases. Come on Mr Kamwi, stand up for your nurses and for the health of all the Namibian people.* MINISTRY of Ministry of Home Affairs, why do we wait so long for a duplicate for an ID? Please speed up the process. I have been waiting for three months now.In And From The Regions* ONDANGWA Town Council why can you not put up a proper road leading to the Home Affairs Office now. During this year’s flood, the CEO asked people not to point fingers at them. People heeded his call because it was a first flood really. What would be his appeal if he and his team are failing to plan by not doing something now before the possible rains next time. No excuse maybe accepted! – 10B, Ondangwa* WHY is it that The Namibian newspaper doesn’t reach us here in Aranos? Ms Gwen please do something.- Thank you for pointing this out. We’ll look into it. – News Editor* WE are expecting a disaster if a veld fire strikes in Uuvudhiya Constituency, Oshana Region, tomorrow. Will one say it’s GRN’s failure to make cutlines in that area? Whoever is failing to act must be held responsible if such foreseen incidents take place.-10 Boys, worried deserter* UUTSATHIMA area has not received any fruits of Independence. No water, no road, no electricity and no network waves. Please Kapenambili people are suffering. Teachers, nurses and policemen!Rundu beach on the Okavango* CAN Rundu Town Council please remove the fence at Rundu beach. We don’t see the need for it.Education* STUDENTS at Namfi are seriously suffering due to the fact that they are not allowed to cook their own food or to keep food in their own rooms, even a bread. And the other issue is that they are not given any pocket money as used to happen in the past. These poor students are called cadets for nothing. The catering company is expensive because in a day one has to consume N$86 and N$2 666 per month. Can someone help the Namfi director to consider that some of the students don’t have parents or their parents are unemployed. It must not become a one-man show please. Aluta continua.- Concerned comradeHealth Matters* MY complaint is about Katutura Hospital TB section. My brother is hospitalised at the male TB wards. I am telling you he is suffering. They don’t feed him. Go and see, his breakfast, lunch and probably dinner meal is always lying on top of his drawers untouched because he can’t feed himself. He is dirty. No one takes time to give him a bath. He is forever thirsty. Imagine it’s the fourth time I found him thirsty and he finished a one-litre bottle of water. The teeth are getting rotten, no one brushed them even though he has all the toiletries. This is because he is bedridden. Please nurses help the patients who can’t help themselves. Thank you.* OSHAKATI State Hospital is not prepared as far as swine flu is concerned. It was reported last week that there is a confirmed case but so far there is no single site allocated for suspected cases to go for testing. Minister Kamwi please help us out. Labour Issues* NORED Electricity, don’t be rude to your employees. Some of them are minors who even need your support and encouragement. Don’t be aristocratic leaders. Namibia is a democratic country please.* WHY are people working in shebeens from 06h00 until 02h00 and doing their jobs only getting N$200?* WHY have instructors at Oluno not been paid their allowance from the beginning until the end of recruits’ training? What’s wrong with the Ministry of Defence? Please Minister help us and soon. They even have our money from Okahandja training and we are shocked. Why does it have to take as long as six months? Plus it’s less than the Police instructors get? Please NDF our morale is gone.* NEED advice! Can someone be withdrawn from his/her duties on alleged misconduct, which had yet not been investigated, while others with serious offences with evidence are still performing their duties? That’s how it works in the Namibian Police.Service Please* SHOPRITE Katima Mulilo makes some ridiculous rules. They dictate to customers the maximum number per item e.g. 10 loaves of bread per individual. If their workloads are too little it would do us both good if they supervised the baking of more bread and monitor the shelves for any cleared items than to watch the tellers. * WITH the N$0,25 petrol price increase, to fill up 40 litres will cost only N$10 extra. Is this justifiable to increase the taxi fares. No.- Dzick’otz * AFROX Stop ‘n Shop is not helpful. It was supposed to open at 09h00, but we stand outside till after 10h00 on Thursdays. Afrox please do something. At least put two people there.- Unhappy customer