By: Kelvin Chiringa
An unnamed man protested against being left out in the Twaloloka houses hand-over Monday afternoon by stripping naked in front of the office of the Ombudsman in Windhoek.
This comes a few days after President Hage Geingob handed over houses in Walvis Bay to victims of a fire that gutted about 200 shacks leaving hundreds without shelter.
Yet the hand-over was at the back of clamours that those that needed the houses the most had been left out.
However, the newly installed ombudsman Basilius Dyakugha expressed his ignorance of the naked protest action saying that he will only be in office with effect from next month.
Ombudsman Advocate John Walters who was notified of the incident said his office was not in the business of dishing out houses to people.
He directed the lone protestor to the office of the ministry of urban and rural development.
“If he comes back I will speak to him. But you see, providing houses is the responsibility of government and not the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman must just monitor the implementation by government. I cannot provide quality education; I cannot provide water and sanitation for people. I cannot provide houses, that is government’s duty,” he said.
The Villager pressed the Ombudsman on whether this meant that the naked man had visited the wrong office.
“I do not know what his complaint really is. We did not give it the attention. But if he is complaining about the provision of housing, he should go to the ministry of rural and urban development,” he said.
However, activist Kassie Shilongo has said the Ombudsman must deal with the man’s protest action in the light of justice and fairness, beyond the mere task of provision of housing.
Shilongo has been raising the dust over alleged corruption in the Twaloloka housing project.
He has penned letters to various offices accusing the allocation list as riddled with corruption and the elbowing out of people that needed the houses the most.
He has however denied being behind the solo protest action at the office of the Ombudsman.
“He has that constitutional obligation to protect public. The houses of Twaloloka are being built with public funds and he has that constitutional obligation to protect public funds. If the houses are being built for fire victims, the houses must benefit the real fire victims, not people that have been picked due to their political affiliation,” he said.
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