SOME regional offices and quarantine units of the ministry of agriculture have been without electricity, water as well as printing paper and cartridges because of unpaid bills.

The affected offices facilitate the movement of livestock from one place to another, and enable farmers to sell their animals, in addition to assisting with ensuring the health of animals.

The Namibian was informed that about six agricultural offices in the Omaheke, Otjozondjupa and Oshikoto regions have been experiencing power supply problems for more than eight months.

This situation has badly affected the movement of livestock as farmers wait for a long time, and sometimes use their own generators to provide power to the offices.

The chairperson of one farmers' organisation, Mbunga Tjamuaha, told The Namibian that they have been struggling at Okakarara to access permits for the movement of livestock.

On several occasions, he said, farmers had to "beg" people with generators to power the ministry's offices in order to get permits processed.

Tjamuaha added that farmers pay for the petrol to power the generators, and at one point, his association donated a generator to the ministry's office to ensure that "services to farmers are rendered".

"We donated a generator to ensure that farmers continue to get services. Unfortunately, that generator is now broken. The ear-tag system is inaccessible, and we are heading into a year now without this office operating," he stated.

The situation is the same at the ministry's office at Otjinene, which had its electricity cut due to unpaid bills.

Otjinene Farmers' Association (OFA) chairperson Tjandeka Putuaota said his office was forced to make it their own problem to provide electricity, as well as paper and cartridges.

Putuaota added that apart from donating a generator, they provide petrol to ensure the office has electricity on a daily basis.

"We took it upon ourselves to make sure that farmers can still get permits to move animals around since they make a living from selling cattle," he explained.

They spent a minimum of N$2 000 a month to bail out the government office for the benefit of the farmers.

"As of now, we are trying to get permission from treasury and the necessary office for us to just pay for the monthly electricity used by the agriculture office while the government sorts out its debts with NamPower," said Putuaota.

The ministry's spokesperson, Jona Musheko, last week said they are aware of the situation in the regions.

He gave the assurance that the ministry will process the payments upon receiving the invoices.

Musheko could, however, not provide the amount owed to the service providers, saying he was not authorised to release such information without the permission of the permanent secretary, Percy Misika.

He said the ministry will determine how much they owe service providers, and the number of offices affected when they receive the invoices.

Misika did not answer his mobile phone when contacted.