They came empty but the three delegates from the Namibian Town Clerks Forum said they are leaving full of knowledge after getting a firsthand look at municipal politics in Rainy River District.
Boniface Mutumba, Lukas Muhepa, and Ria Dippenaar left for Toronto yesterday after spending almost a week here as part of a cultural exchange through the Association of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
Mutumba, chairman of the NTCF, said Namibia recently started to decentralize its powers from the federal government and the main idea behind the exchange was to take a cue from a country which already is a decentralized system–namely Canada.
“When you can study another system, [it helps] when you can see and touch things,” he explained. “It makes it tangible.”
The delegation ended up here to start the first leg of their visit through Bill Naturkach, now past-president of the AMCTO. Besides touring the town’s facilities, he took them to several municipalities in the west end of the district.
They also toured various businesses and industries.
“What was very interesting for me is almost all the space outside of Fort Frances is occupied with smaller communities, and have farms,” noted Dippenaar, also noting she was impressed with the amount of technology each municipality had available to it.
“The community is highly committed,” she added. “These people are working together. All in all, this is a very good country.”
“What I’ve seen here is good co-operation between the authority and the community,” echoed Muhepa. “Also, we find the people are employers for themselves. That is the system we want to develop in our country.”
Mind you, the trip wasn’t all business and no play. The Namibians took time out in their schedule to tour the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre near Stratton, as well as enjoy the “Friends of the Library” annual dinner/dance here Friday night.
They also attended Monday night’s council meeting, where Mayor Glenn Witherspoon presented each of them with a plaque commemorating their visit.
The level of hospitality left quite an impression on all of them.
“Everywhere we go, we’re accepted,” Muhepa said. “People are friendly and like to accept people. I even succeeded to dance with someone here.”
“People are very warm and friendly. In general, it’s a very positive experience–though I want to experience snow,” Dippenaar laughed.
The Namibians visit was only phase two of a multi-faceted exchange project, Mutumba said. The next step will be to take back what they’ve learned in Canada and try to apply it in their own country.
“This [trip] is to help develop our own full-fledged constitution [for the NTCF],” he explained. “We want to make the association highly legal and acceptable–one voice for local government officials.
“We are no longer the same,” Mutumba said at Monday night’s council meeting. “We were empty when we came here. We are now full of knowledge . . . that we will share with our governments in Namibia.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
