The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Communication Technology is in the Kunene Region for an oversight visit.
The visit is as part of its constitutional mandate to exercise oversight over executive institutions entrusted with public funds to deliver services to citizens.
The visit focuses on inspecting Universal Service Fund (USF) projects approved during the 2024/2025 financial year to determine if they were successfully implemented and completed and to identify any challenges encountered.
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology's (MICT) Information Officer, Kaino Sheehama, presented the mandate and key functions of the MICT Kunene Regional Office under the Directorate of Multimedia Services.
However, members of the committee expressed dissatisfaction that a junior official represented the ministry. They were also not satisfied that the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture (MEIYSAC) delegated the Deputy Director of Education to attend the meeting without a written presentation.
Parliamentary Standing Committee chairperson Sebastiaan Karupu expressed, "We are similarly disappointed by these two institutions. MICT is the key ministry that was supposed to drive ICT, and they just sent junior staff members. When members wanted to get charities, they were making references to people in Windhoek while they were on the ground; that applies the same with education."
However, the committee welcomed a presentation by Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) General Manager for Network Ludwig Tjitandi.
He said MTC was awarded a tender in 2024 with the aim to provide free Internet service for schools and clinics.
Under the USF phase one in Kunene, two towers were set up at Ongongo and Etomba in Opuwo rural and Epupa constituencies.
They further built a fibre from Okahao to interconnect Opuwo to its main network to improve Internet service and support the Buffalo project, which is a countrywide project aimed at improving quality service and optimising network coverage.
MTC has 74 sites in Kunene, of which 87.8% are 4G-equipped.
"For MTC 74 sites, only 2 sites are financed by USF; all the other 72 sites have been MTC's own investment."
He further says in 2017, MTC introduced the Osmarter Phone with the aim to enable customers to acquire affordable smartphones, but the challenge is that some people who acquired affordable smartphones started selling them at high prices in neighbouring countries to generate more money for themselves.
The committee wants no one to feel left out when it comes to network coverage and digital technology in both urban and rural areas.
They further want schools and health facilities to have access to Internet connectivity to improve teaching and learning and healthcare provision in the country.