New Era

KATIMA MULILO â€" Despite the vastly crowded field of 14 different parties canvassing for votes from the electorate for next week's Presidential and parliamentary polls, none of the political parties have taken their campaigns to the pristine Impalila Island east of Katima Mulilo.

Though the island is a ruling Swapo Party stronghold, Impalila islanders feel left out and when she recently visited Caprivi, Swapo Party Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana expressed the sentiment that she would have changed her schedule and gone to Impalila had she been informed about the island's political isolation.

The parties vying for next week's elections are CP, UDF, Namibia DMC, RDP, DPN, DTA, SWANU of Namibia, RP, Swapo Party, NUDO, APP and CoD, UDF and MAG.
Residents of the island feel somehow neglected said Brian Simataa, a resident of the unique island who spoke in his capacity as a community activist representing others.
Speaking to New Era, the retired postal worker said: "Not a single political party, not Swapo, or DTA, CoD, RP and RDP has campaigned on Impalila."
Simataa feels the reason for the absence of campaigning could be due to the fact that people travelling to Impalila have to travel through Botswana by road and boat and they need to pass through border posts in Namibia and Botswana to have their passports stamped.
Though Impalila is located less than 100 km from Katima Mulilo, its residents not only have to endure border formalities but have to fork out N$50 to travel to Kasane, Botswana and N$6 to cross the Chobe River into the island as well as an extra N$60 to be transported from the banks of the Chobe River to their respective villages.
Simataa also bemoaned the fact that the only clinic on the island often has to close down for periods of over a week when nursing staff attend workshops or have to buy groceries or even withdraw their salaries in Katima Mulilo, leaving patients in limbo.
During one such prolonged closure, a pregnant woman reportedly gave birth at the gate of the clinic, while villagers resort to traditional methods when someone gets bitten by a snake or a scorpion, narrated Simataa, who wants the health ministry to beef up its staff component at Impalila to ensure service delivery is not disrupted.

Simataa used the interview to commend the Government for procuring a new barge for Impalila, saying this will go a long way to alleviate up to 60 percent of their problems.

He said islanders more often have to pay amounts of up to N$2 000 particularly when they have to transport corrugated iron sheets, cement and bulk building material.
Islanders depend on Botswana for food and health needs and for firewood and poles used in construction they rely on Zambia, he said.

They also subscribe to MASCOM, Botswana, as no single Namibian mobile subscriber is present on the island whose residents rely on candlelight since they have not yet benefited from the rural electrification programme. They do not have access to Namibian radio service as well.

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