An office building that was constructed five years ago to accommodate staff members of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism in the Kavango East Region's Mukwe Constituency is yet to be occupied.

The building is now dilapidated.

The office was constructed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reform before it was transferred to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

The staff for whom the building was constructed are currently accommodated at the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform Office in Divundu.

Romeo Muyunda, the Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, says the ministry is aware of the matter at hand.

"At that time we assumed the office was built to bring services closer to the people and the office was not inhabited as we assumed as well, mainly because there are issues with water provisions as well as electricity connections to the office. The ministry has since taken over the forestry component, and there has been a borehole that has been installed and serviced to provide water to the office. Moving forward, we are also looking into procuring the services of a contractor that would look into rehabilitating or renovating the office to an acceptable standard, and as soon as that is completed, we want that office to be inhabited so that we are able to provide service to the people of Mukwe."

The situation has forced officials meant to work at the station to use their own resources to drive to Divundu, about 40 kilometres away from their duty station.

The renovation of the building is expected to cost the ministry over N$2 million.

The office block was supposed to be used for the issuing of forestry permits, law enforcement, illegal timber harvesting, and patrolling the borders of Namibia to enforce forestry laws and policies.

"We are looking into employing an acceptable number of people, especially considering that currently our office in that region is operating from the Ministry of Agriculture Water and Land Reform office in Divundu. It would be good to have that office inhabited as soon as possible but also have enough human capacity to be able to run and operationalise the office, so there is a recruitment process that is underway."

Currently, the officials are just looking after the nursery situated in Divundu.