Ompundja Constituency is an electoral constituency in the Oshana Region of Namibia. It had 4,423 inhabitants in 2004[1] and 2,520 registered voters in 2020.[2] Its constituency office is situated in Enguwantale.[3]

Ompundja Constituency (red) in the Oshana Region (yellow)

Geography

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The constituency covers an area of 466 km2 (180 sq mi). It is part of the Cuvelai Basin and dominated by flood plains which become swamps during the raining season.[4]

Economy and infrastructure

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The district road D3607 is the access road to Ompundja constituency. There are no other proclaimed roads in the constituency; Transport is done on tracks that frequently become impassable during the raining season.[4] The main economic activity is subsistence agriculture.[3] Ambassador, politician and businessperson Monica Nashandi was born here.[5]

Politics

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Ompundja constituency is traditionally a stronghold of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) party. The constituency's councillor is SWAPO politician Adolf Uunona, who has been serving in this role since 2004[6] when he received 1,686 of the 1,697 votes cast in the 2004 regional election.[7]

In the 2015 Namibian regional elections, Uunona won uncontested and remained councillor after no opposition party nominated a candidate.[8] Uunona was again reelected in the 2020 Namibian regional elections, winning with 1,196 votes over Abner Mumbala of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, with 213 votes.[2]

Uunona rose to international attention in 2020 when news media picked up that his full given name is Adolf Hitler Uunona, named after German dictator Adolf Hitler.[9][10][11] Uunona stated in response that, "My father gave me this name Adolf Hitler, but it does not mean I have Adolf Hitler's character".[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Namibia Constituencies". 2004.
  2. ^ a b "Regional Council 2020 Election Results". Interactive map. Electoral Commission of Namibia. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Ompundja Constituency". Oshana Regional Council, Government of Namibia. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b Iikela, Sakeus (17 November 2022). "Flood-prone Uuvudhiya, Ompundja beg for roads". The Namibian. p. 5.
  5. ^ "State House's Nashandi resigns". New Era. 16 October 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16.
  6. ^ a b Ndeyanale, Eliaser (7 December 2020). "Adolf Hitler defends his name". The Namibian. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2021-04-30.
  7. ^ "Electoral Act, 1992: Notification of Result of General Election for Regional Councils" (pdf). Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia. No. 3366. Government of Namibia. 3 January 2005. p. 7.
  8. ^ Kangootui, Nomhle (23 October 2015). "Swapo gets ǃNamiǂNûs uncontested". The Namibian. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015.
  9. ^ "Namibia: Man named after Adolf Hitler wins local election". BBC News. 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  10. ^ "Schlechter Scherz? Adolf Hitler sitzt 2020 im Landrat" [Bad joke? Adolf Hitler sits on the district administrator in 2020]. Euronews Deutsche (in German). 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  11. ^ AfricaNews (2020-12-03). "Politician Named after Adolf Hitler Wins Election In Namibia". Africanews. Retrieved 2020-12-03.

17°54′S 15°42′E / 17.900°S 15.700°E / -17.900; 15.700