Okaku Constituency

Okaku Constituency (yellow) in the Oshana Region (dark grey)

Okaku Constituency is an electoral constituency in the Oshana Region of Namibia. It has 19,262 inhabitants,^[1] its district capital is the settlement of Okaku.

Okaku falls under the Ondonga Traditional Authority. Its first councillor is Honourable Henock ya Kasita who served the constituency from the independence till 2010. Ya Kasita was followed by Honourable Joseph Kapya Endjala who was the head of Cosdec centre in Ondangwa.

Daily life

The constituency has more than 10 villages with an average of four people per homestead. Its homesteads are made of tree poles, bricks and hut roof made from the grass. But because policies and procedures are now in place in terms of protecting nature, many people are no longer using the same system to build their house with roof made with grass. But they are now using sheet metals and bricks made out cement and not with sand as it used to be.

Okaku residents depend on farming. They cultivate their fields on a subsistence basis to get food such as millet, beans, melons, sorghum and nuts. Their staple is porridge (oshithima), and their traditional drink is ontaku.

Education

Schools in the constituency include Otala Combined School, okaku primary school Nengushe junior secondary School, and Ontinda Primary School.

Development

Okaku has 4 ELCIN parishes and one Catholic parish. It has one clinic named after the constituency. Most of the infrastructure in Okaku has electricity through the Ministry of Mines and Energy's Rural Electrification Programme.

Except the main roads between Oshakati and Ondangwa and between Ondangwa and Oshikango, most of the roads in the constituency are gravel. The communication network is available in the area. Residents do their shopping in Ondangwa and Oshakati.

As one of the constituencies in the flood prone area, Okaku suffered by the flood during rainy season. The road between Ondangwa and the t-junction on the way to Oshakati was under flood water in 2009. A number of schools cannot be reached during the rainy season.

References

1. "Constituencies of Namibia, 2004". Statoids.com. Retrieved 2012-10-10.

• Shivute, O (27 February 2009): "Okaku prone to flood." The Namibian, p.6
• W.J Mbangula (2011): "Okaku hungry for development." New Era p.2

Coordinates: 17°48′S 15°51′E / 17.800°S 15.850°E