Members of the National Assembly sprung to action just one day after President Hifiekpunye Pohamba opened Parliament on Tuesday. Usually the House would be adjourned until the following week. Speaker Theo-Ben Gurirab told MPs to be back Wednesday afternoon. Reporters were surprised to hear that they will even sit on Friday morning. The reason is that the Speaker wanted a debate on specific national issues for those 3 days, a very new and welcome move indeed. Education minister Mbumba thus briefed MPs on current educational issues. Debate was opened immediately afterwards. On Thursday Members received an update on Vision 2030, also followed by a debate. On Friday morning Prime Minister Nahas Angula was scheduled to report on the Cabinet Retreat which took place last December. This shift in parliamentary routine indicates that the wind of change has also reached the "Tintenpalast" after president Pohambabe came head of state 11 months ago.

The placement of 2,611 desperate school children for Grades 1,8 and 11 who did not have a place in schools last month, cost the government N$10,3 million Education minister Nangolo Mbumba. Briefing parliamentarians on Wednesday, he said that 120 additional teachers were appointed for those children at their respective schools. Some N$ 7,3 m was spent on textbooks, desks and chairs and hostel mattresses. Some N$3 million went into salaries and conditions of service to the 120 new teachers. "The biggest challenge facing Nambia is the state of education",Mbumba admitted, "16 years after independence the country has been unable to provide adequate skilled human resources". Ninety percent of the budget for education went to salaries, only 10% into infrastructure and equipment. Mbumba added that Grade 1o pupils increased to 30,000 and part time learners who completed Grade 10 and looked for admission to schools in Grade 11 increased from 2,134 in 1993 to 12,300 pupils in 2005. This year nearly 15,000 children are in Grade 11.

The European Union (EU) was not open to give developing countries a fair chance in the trade agreements to be completed by Decemebr with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Suth African researcher said. Speaking at a trade Forum orgnaised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Windhoek on Wednesday, Dr Garth le Pere of the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) said the negotiations were not about development but market access. The EU had not made any significant offer like reducing its subsidies for agriculture already by 1020, as demand by African countries. Subsidies would only be cut in 2013, Le Pere said. While the deadline of December 2006 put all parties under pressure to conclude the talks, developed countries shoed not enough political will, Le Pere lamented.

The government of Namibia and the United Nations signed a five-year country support programme on Wednesday. About N$1 billion (US$169 million) will be pumped into AIDS, health and development projects until 2010. The director general of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Helmut Angula and the UN resident coordinator Simon Nhongo signed the agreement on Wednesday The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will receive about N$ 162.5 million (US$ 25m) from that amount.

Some 800 customers in certain parts of Katutura will experience short interruptions of their telephone lines service as from Friday, 17 February 2006, until Sunday, 19 February 2006. Telecom technicians will replace damaged underground cables in the access network, the company said. On Friday morning technicians will cut-over the telephone lines of customers in Dolam, Soweto and Golgotha to the new cables laid recently following the flood that damaged cables. The good rains Windhoek received over the past weeks left the telecommunications system in the 3 suburbs in a shamble, Telecom said. Hundreds of phones are noisy or, at best, inaudible as underground cables developed a problem after being soaked in rainwater.

Mobile Telecommunications (MTC) signed a 5-year exclusive contract with Motorola Ltd for the supply of GSM/GPRS and Canopy equipment this week. The installation of the new equipment will help MTC expand its network to 95% of the population. Equipment to be acquired from Motorola includes base stations, base station controllers, transcoders, GPRS core and Canopy equipment. Under the agreement, MTC has also signed up for Motorola’s software upgrade program, under which MTC will receive upgrades of Motorola’s GSM/BSS software and GPRS Packet Core software over the next 5 years.

"We’re particularly pleased to have been awarded this business in a competitive tender process that included many of the other known industry players," said Gejoy Nettikadan, Motorola’s account manager. MTC Managing Director Bengt Strenge said they were rolling out to rural areas not previously penetrated. "In 2006 we will focus on road coverage and ensure that all main routes in Namibia are covered". The expansion will enable MTC to improve the quality on the existing network and reduce congestion. MTC is Namibia’s sole cellular network operator with over 455,000 active subscribers. Coverage is 86% of the population with 250 base stations across the country. In operation since 1995, MTC offers GPRS capability including MMS, e-mail and internet access amongst a range of pre- and post paid solutions.