SMSes for Wed 21 Jan 09

* TO all the young people, stand up, dream and reach for the stars, your country needs you. President (Barack) Obama has done it, so can you.

* TO all the young people, stand up, dream and reach for the stars, your country needs you. President (Barack) Obama has done it, so can you.

Food For Thought
* PLEASE can someone tell me where in Namibia’s Constitution is the chapter on reconciliation?
– Worried, Outjo

Media Mirror
* CAN NBC Open File repeat the Kamholo family story. Some people seem not to have seen it. We want to help.

* AS I write this text I am still crying tears and my heart is like it wants to split. Please please please Mr President (Hifikepunye Pohamba) and the Ministers let us help this family with our tax money once. They are human beings like us, our sisters and brother. Please everyone with love, let us do something here, Mr (Bob) Kandetu (DG) please go and show the President and his ministers this. It is very painful to watch.
– Jan Owambo

* ON the 18th of Jan 2009 Sunday. It was my first tears of the year as I was watching TV about the Kamholo family

* WHY is Open Line in Oshiwambo handled in a totally different manner from the one of English, while they all fall under the same directorate. I need clarity from NBC Oshiwambo department.

Taxing Questions
* IS there no other way of raising funds – without increasing taxes – to cater for political salaries?

* WHY are paying we paying 35 per cent tax on commuting leave when resigning because we are already paying tax on a monthly basis?

* THE Prime Minister has accepted the 24 per cent salary increment and rejected advice of Mr (Mc Henry) Venaani to discuss salary reform for public servants. What a selfish move.

* WHY increase salaries of people who sleep at work and dodge parliamentary sessions? Consider civil servants, give us 15 per cent or lose more votes! No more cheap politics.

* THE 24 per cent increase is meant to secure a good severance package for the poor politicians because after the 2009 elections they will be no more. Please bid the poor souls farewell.

Education
* STOP misinforming the public regarding the fee structure at the WVTC. The NNTO t/a WVTC’s obligation is to give quality and demand-driven skilled training to the Namibian youth for them to become competent contributors to the Namibian economy. To offer skills training it requires resources to meet the market demand. The current fee structure of the Centre is a small portion of the actual cost to train an artisan. What WVTC is charging remains a subsidised amount which is 19 per cent of the total training cost and registration fees are part of the annual training fees. Detailed information regarding the fee structure can be obtained via the Head of Administration.
– WVTC Principal

* WINDHOEK Vocational Training Centre must stop making money from us youth! They said that we must apply with Grade 10 for the intake, then they charged us N$50 to write the aptitude test, and afterward they selected only nine candidates out of 500 who sat for the test. They must stop that please and next time they must make a shortlist for those who qualified to write an aptitude test, but not more than 50 candidates anymore please!

* IT is so sad to see how our Namibian kids have to sit in tents (for education) in order to one be future leaders, while our current leaders (politicians) want only to enrich themselves.

* CAN the Ministry of Education improve their system they use to approve student study loans. It takes so long. Some of us, like me, spent three years not studying because the loan does not always arrive on time. Now we are going to register on February 6, at least let our loans be approved by then.

Politics
* SO what if (NBC Director General Bob) Kandetu is a RDP member, or is it a crime to join a legally established political party? What happened to democracy and freedom of association?

* COMRADES in Swapo, especially former Plan combatants, sons and daughters of Namibia, who were fighting. Not people who were puppets and today they claim they are true Swapos. Many Permanent Secretaries have developed this habit. Where were you during the struggle? Today you want to use Swapo colours to cover up. Do not teach us to hate RDP members. Most of those comrades in RDP have saved our lives in many battlefields. We should not hate them. They are our political opponents not our enemies. Teach us how to unite this nation not to divide it. Remember you are civil servants not any political party servants

* EDUCATION Minister (Nangolo) Mbumba leave politics to the politicians and rather concentrate on the burning issue of school hostels. Currently you are busy campaigning to retain your seat next year.

Mark Of Respect
* CONSIDERING the enormous contributions he made for the liberation of Namibia, before Independence, and based on contributions and positions he held in Swapo Party as well as in the government, after Independence, I propose that our beloved late Cde Moses //Garoëb’s remains be exhumed by the State and deservedly reburied at Heroes’ Acre.
– Cde AJ, Outjo

* WHAT a shock it is to see the grave of the late Minister of Labour unattended, please my fellow Damaras let’s stand up and do something, Chief Justice this is a Damara son, let’s be proud.
– From a very disappointed Damara

Labour Issues
* WE Police reservists and Youth Against Crime need recruitment.

* I’M concerned about the new changed Labour Act. We fishermen, are we included or excluded? Sundays and public holidays are not paid double. We are working 24 hours with no overtime. We are still casual workers after more than ten years. When we apply for a loan it’s rejected because of criticism. We want to be evaluated like other workers. The fishing industry is a main resource in our economy. We need change to improve our lives.

* COMMISSIONER of Prisons, why are those higher ranked staying in the prison flats while new members are suffering?

* UNION leaders in Windhoek are talking about retrenchments at Namdeb on TV and in newspapers and none of them was in Oranjemund to hear from the workers themselves. Kaaronda, Eiseb, Lumbu and Hengari we need you at Oranjemund and don’t wait for a strike to happen.

General
* WHY do people say Obama is black? Is it because his father is black? What about his mother who is white? With due respect we should call him what he is.

* MADAM Gwen Lister. Will you be so kind and publish Obama’s inauguration speech this week in the people’s paper. Please

* TO the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, could you kindly make provision for translating our Constitution into various vernacular languages and also create educative programmes through the media in order to teach the Namibian nation about their respective rights and guiding laws. I’m sure it’ll be highly appreciated.

* GOVERNMENT needs to pull its head out the sand and say how it plans to protect the local economy from the effects of the global financial crisis. Instead what we receive is political posturing from Swapo and its subsidiaries and silence from those in government who are tasked with the management of our economy. There is need for decisive action.
– Kamati

* WHAT now? Applying for a passport only when you can provide proof that you are going to travel and only used as a status symbol! What! Some of us need to travel on extremely short notice and holiday plans may change when you decide to travel cross border. Home Affairs should phone people to collect passports. Think most of them passed away while waiting for passports to be issued. If the people working at Home Affairs were actually doing their jobs, they would not have a problem. Do not punish us all!

Bouquets And Brickbats
* THANK YOU NBC. Special thanks go to Anna Nikodemus for her brave work to broadcast and update us on what is happening to those people at Ombalantu on Open File. Namibians let us help each other. Those people are suffering from hunger but nothing has been done to improve their living conditions. Ministers and Deputy Mini
sters, MDs, CEOs and rich people help them. God will bless you. Today it is them, tomorrow it’s you!

* ALL political parties where is your community responsibility? Did you watch Open File on Sunday? I hope you all did. Not only Swapo but all parties RDP, DTA, COD etc. Don’t just campaign for our votes and later forget us when we need you.

* CONGRATS to the entire staff of Schuckmansburg Secondary School, you did it again. Having all Grade 10 learners pass is not a joke when you get surrounded by water every year. To all learners who passed through hardship, well done and keep it up.

In And From the Regions
* MINISTER Erkki Nghimtina what happened to the promise of rural electrification in all 13 regions? Vision 2030 seems an unrealistic dream.

* PLEASE allow me to ask the municipality, Cenored and Clayhouse projects of Otjiwarongo these questions? We want to know which company is responsible for giving us water and electricity in certain areas where there is none especially at the clay houses, Build Together houses and Ombili location. How do you call a living place a house without electricity and water. On top of that I have seen a lot of erven just staying there without owners. Some of them have been left half built, and others have been full of grass for years. It seems like people have eaten up loan money and they escaped. Some owners died and the houses they took on loan stand closed while we are suffering to get a piece of land to stay. Please we need a feedback on this matter because I have nowhere to stay in town. I always ask at municipality for an erf, but always they are full. So please we need help in this matter.
– JJ, Otjiwarongo

Health Matters
* There is a shortage of staff at Katima Mulilo Hospital. A security officer taking readings at the scale. Were they trained for that? GRN must do much on the MoHHS.

* MEDICAL practitioners also study many years, and are equally qualified to provide the service of dispensing medicine, unlike the unemployed on the street. MDs work very hard – many hours per day – under highly stressful conditions – sometimes through the nights, over the weekends, etc. If they go on leave, they earn nothing, while those they employ, still get salaries and paid leave. In order to recover payments from patients and medical aids, more personnel have to be employed. Neither do private MDs have any other benefits, while having to pay a large percentage in tax. In December and January, patients hardly pay at all, while overheads continue. Reasons why MDs are dispensing include providing affordable medicines at remote clinics, and surely also to make ends meet, just like pharmacists who are selling all manner of goods. (Is this not how a free market works?) Let’s appreciate the services provided by MDs!

Service Please
* WHEN will the state of affairs change at Home Affairs. Despite the promises of improved services, one must still struggle to get a passport in time. Whoever is responsible for the incompetency of that institution must be fired with the rest of his or her staff.
– Concerned student.