Uutoni wants country's sport gear manufactured locally

The Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Erastus Uutoni, is advocating for National sports gear to be sourced from local tailoring companies in the near future, to empower the local market. Uutoni said government spends millions of dollars on training, especially at Vocational Training Centres, while students still end up struggling to make a living from the skills acquired. So, by sourcing sport gear manufactured in the country, this not only empowers the youth financially but also enables them to market their products abroad when the athletes compete in various sport activities. Over the years, Namibia has sourced its uniforms from neighbouring countries, a situation which Uutoni says once it is done away with, will be another milestone of youth development through sports in the country. “This issue of our athletes wearing sportswear manufactured from country A,B,C frankly no, it will not ogre well. For us as a nation, we are going to be 29 years, but the sport wear when you look at the brand, it’s from country b/c yet government spends lot of money in vocational schools. Are we saying we are not able or we do not have eyes, brains and hands” Uutoni said. Uutoni believes it is better for the youth to import materials which they can use to make sport wear than government empowering other companies outside the country at the expense of Namibians. He said, his ministry remains committed to the development of youth in all spheres and wants to ensure that opportunities such as these are created and come into effect sooner than later. ”I am now urging the Namibian Sport Commission and its federation to seriously look into that in order to strengthen the productivity of our youth in the country. Also eventually create employment in the country because sometimes, jobs are here money is here, but we are giving money somewhere” he added.

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Ndapanda Shuuya