LIVE FM RADIO INTERVIEW by Phil ya Nangoloh, NamRights Today I was on air at Rehoboth informing voters about their rights. One such right is food security. Food security is when everyone at all times has access to adequate, safe and nutritious food in order to maintain a healthy and active life. The right to food security is one of the basic human rights guaranteed by the Namibian Constitution (see Article 95(j)). This right is based upon three pillars: (1) availability of food; (2) accessibility of food; and, (3) appropriate use of food. The overwhelming majority of Namibian voters suffer from very serious, severe, chronic and pressing food insecurity problems. On the daily basis we read newspapers, we see on TV and or we hear on radio that large numbers of Namibians suffer even die from malnutrition. Moreover, the right to food security is inextricably connected to several other basic human rights which are also guaranteed by the Namibian Constitution. These include: (1) the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living which is continuously improving; (2) the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; (3) the right to qualitative education; and, (4) the right of everyone to human dignity. All those rights are provided for in the said Constitution (Articles 8, 20, 95 and 98). However, all those rights are meaningless, if they are not being implemented by those who have been chosen by the people to run the day-to-day affairs of the State. I am referring to our village councilors, town councilors, city councilors, regional councilors and national councilors as well as the president and his or her Cabinet. If these people are corrupt and, as such, they are not performing to the satisfaction of voters, then do we voters need to choose them again or we must we replace them with new ones? There are basically two ways in which we, the voters, can punish them if they are corrupt and if they are not performing well: we have the power, (1) not to vote for them anymore during election time; and, (2) we have the power to remove them anytime through massive peaceful demonstration in the streets! All we need, really, is to know our rights to punish them. This is where Live FM (in Rehoboth) and other Community Radio Stations which are sponsored by NamRights and DW Akademie (with EU funding) must come in: to create awareness and strengthen as well as transmit our voice from one place to another so as to be heard by as many voters as possible and in a timely manner. It is a good thing to hear or read that several mayors and others have recently signed a Declaration in Windhoek to end food insecurity there. This is a very good thing. However, it is even more a good thing, if that Declaration will be implemented. The reason why the majority of Namibians have severe food security shortages is not because there are no declarations to end hunger. It is because such declaration, in the form of the Namibian Constitution, is NOT being implemented by those chosen to implement them! As for the GREENING of riverbeds of Windhoek in order to make gardens for the production of food, we have to use our critical thinking skills and question whether or not such cultivable riverbeds do exist naturally in Windhoek. Do they exist? END
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:20:13 +0000
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