Why Omusati Is ‘Largest’?

THE Namibian of Wednesday, February 14, 2007 contained a brief report on the newly established regional resettlement committees in the five regions that have not benefited from the resettlement programme.

These regions are the Caprivi, Kavango, Ohangwena, Omusati and Oshana. Each of these regions now has a committee comprising nine members, except for Omusati Region where the membership stands at 18.Since the said report did not present the rationale for a bigger committee for Omusati Region, I tried to do a few calculations, and make comparisons of some statistical facts to see if I can somehow understand the reasons behind the difference between the sizes of Omusati committee versus the rest of the affected regions as follows: Size of land Caprivi – 14 467 km2 Kavango – 48 483 km2 Ohangwena – 10 694 km2 Oshana – 8 682 km2 Omusati – 26 558 km2 Human population per region (National Population Census – NPC, 2001) Caprivi – 79 826 Kavango – 200 694 Ohangwena – 228 384 Oshana – 161 916 Omusati – 228 842 Land size per person Caprivi – 0.181 km2/ person Kavango – 0.242 km2/ person Ohangwena – 0.047 km2 / person Oshana – 0.054 km2/ person Omusati – 0.116 km2/ person Suppose the policies of government are informed by statistical facts, which region among these five is characterised by acute land shortage (measured in terms of land size per person), even more so, if other attributes such as urban centres are taken into account? The answer would be Ohangwena Region.And in terms of land vastness, the answer would be Kavango Region.With these facts, I still failed to understand the justification for the double size of the Regional Resettlement Committees for Omusati Region.Another concern is that all these people will be paid subsistence and travel allowances.The bigger the number, the more money spent on their meetings, the less there is left to fund the actual resettlement activities.Does anybody, including the Minister himself, have any information to clarify the above? Patriot Via e-mail Note: Name and address provided – EdEach of these regions now has a committee comprising nine members, except for Omusati Region where the membership stands at 18.Since the said report did not present the rationale for a bigger committee for Omusati Region, I tried to do a few calculations, and make comparisons of some statistical facts to see if I can somehow understand the reasons behind the difference between the sizes of Omusati committee versus the rest of the affected regions as follows: Size of land Caprivi – 14 467 km2 Kavango – 48 483 km2 Ohangwena – 10 694 km2 Oshana – 8 682 km2 Omusati – 26 558 km2 Human population per region (National Population Census – NPC, 2001) Caprivi – 79 826 Kavango – 200 694 Ohangwena – 228 384 Oshana – 161 916 Omusati – 228 842 Land size per person Caprivi – 0.181 km2/ person Kavango – 0.242 km2/ person Ohangwena – 0.047 km2 / person Oshana – 0.054 km2/ person Omusati – 0.116 km2/ person Suppose the policies of government are informed by statistical facts, which region among these five is characterised by acute land shortage (measured in terms of land size per person), even more so, if other attributes such as urban centres are taken into account? The answer would be Ohangwena Region.And in terms of land vastness, the answer would be Kavango Region.With these facts, I still failed to understand the justification for the double size of the Regional Resettlement Committees for Omusati Region.Another concern is that all these people will be paid subsistence and travel allowances.The bigger the number, the more money spent on their meetings, the less there is left to fund the actual resettlement activities.Does anybody, including the Minister himself, have any information to clarify the above? Patriot Via e-mail Note: Name and address provided – Ed