PROFILE

By Staff Reporter

HE is the current IPC Sibbinda Constituency Councillor and Member of Parliament (MP), a public servant who turned into a politician and he was born and raised by his parents in Sibbinda Village, Some 65 kilometers west of Zambezi region.

Honourable Micky Mumbali Lukaezi was born on November 9, 1970 by his biological parents the late Mr. Jeremiah Mutoiwa who hails from Masida in the family of Mr. Blackface Ntesa Mutoiwa and his mother is Ms. Margaret Chainda now deceased from Makanga.

Lukaezi is married to his lovely sweet heart wife Ms. Martha Mbambi who hails from Kavango East, they have a family of seven (7), four (4) girls and 3 boys.

He started his primary education in 1979 at Sibbinda Primary School, where he did His Sub A (grade 1) to Standard (5) which currently grade 7 and proceeded with his secondary education at Sikosinyana Senior Secondary School that he completed in 1992.

After his Secondary School, he worked in different Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) movements where he held different positions. His hobby at school was playing football and volleyball.

Councillor Lukaezi grew-up as a Christian believer, in Catholic denomination where he served in different portfolios such as a Chairperson of Saint Peter Catholic Church at Sibbinda until he took the office as the Constituency Councillor.

In 1995, He went for further studies at an Agricultural School where he spent 3 years majoring in Crop Science at Omega Agricultural Project in the then Western Caprivi , and was then employed as a settled farmer of the project upon completion of his studies where he obtained different certificates in farming, human resource, marketing and production. His burning ambitions were to be employed as a settled Commercial Farmer.

After the insecurity situation of civil war that was intensified in that area of the western Caprivi by UNITA bandits from Angola, He decided to quit his job and joined Likwama Farmers Union in the then Caprivi Region, where He worked with Pastor Matias Semi, former Director of the union, and He became an extension coordinator for all projects in the region and coordinated 21 primary cooperatives.

“You may be aware of the time we sold nuts at agricultural inputs like Muyako, Sachona, Linyanti and much other agricultural grain storage in the region, that time I was coordinating those storage” he said.

Later on, Lukaezi partly went to Agribank where he just worked for few months and due to restructuring, He resigned and went back to Likwama where He continued managing finance and administration.

In 2005, He got employment at the then Caprivi Regional Council and was one of the first people who opened Sibbinda Constituency Office and He was appointed as the first Chief Clerk (now Chief Administrative Officer) of Sibbinda Constituency from 2005 to November 2020 when he was elected as a Constituency Councillor and Member of Parliament (MP) after being sworn-in taking an oath of two respective offices.

He also served as a school board Chairperson for Sikosinyana Senior Secondary School and worked for three (3) years and in 2015 he served as a member of school board for Simataa Senior Secondary School.

His favourite dish is mostly vegetables of any type with thick porridge , and he does not have any choice when it comes to soft drinks due to gas. “If you want to serve me well, its thick porridge and relish should have vegetable of any type with a piece of meat is when I can enjoy it nicely, I also like fruits especially our own produce such as mango, guava, grapes, apples and other fruits” he said.

Honourable Councillor Lukaezi explained that his duties as a Regional Councillor is to coordinate development of the Constituency and the entire region while at the National Council He is a representative of the region and some interest of masses of majority of the Namibian people, adding that he signed to be a representative of people, a legislature to make laws both at Regional Council where they pass resolutions while at the National Council, they pass bills. His other function at parliament is a member of Parliamentary Standing Committee where is mandated to hold government accountable or executive accountable, and Lukaezi is one of the members of that parliamentary standing committee currently serving under Health and Social Services, Labour and Gender Affairs.

He divulged that when he took over the office, he managed to have a vehicle for the Constituency office since it did not have a vehicle to run its official activities.

According to the Councillor, the vehicle they currently have was managed by his administration through the Zambezi Regional Council.

He added that the issue of water in Sibbinda was too critical and the Regional Council through his office engaged NamWater that sourced funds to start with the rehabilitation of a pipeline from Katima to Sibbinda, “The pipeline is incomplete but as we are talking now am happy to report that its functional and a big dam (reservoir)  that is being built at Sachinga is not complete but both these projects are expected to be commissioned in June this year if everything goes well and those are projects I have been talking about that they should realise” noted Lukaezi.

He said that tenders have been awarded whereas constructors are at the site to complete the work while NamWater continues with its repairs and maintaining of water points, which he described to be a great achievement as water is life.

The Councillor mentioned that , the issue of water at Sabelo where there is a picture of cattle dying from thirst has been discussed because the community in the said area have no water point, they only depend to NamWater points which are expensive and in some cases, when there is no water in Katima it takes time for water to reach those areas and they do not have other source of water.

“As am talking now the good news is that the contractor is at the site to drill a borehole that will carter these communities”

When asked to explain how and why did he join politics, he has this to say “My intention was not to end up in politics but I wonder and believe that politics comes on its own, when I started working at Omega I was elected as secretary for Omega Farmers Association, just to serve my friends and I didn’t know that I was going into politics, from secretary I became Chairperson and later a coordinator and finally manager of the association and I quitted from the board and those years the association was moving strong in Kavango East and it was representing farmers in that region and I was enjoying not knowing that I have joined politics” he explained.

He pointed out that politicians started to meet him and later when he came to Katima after war in the then western Caprivi he was approached by Likwama Farmers Union because of his credentials he possessed. The Union gave him a contract job of a development planner and extension coordinator to deputies the regional extension coordinator. He recalled that Likwama was a union and He didn’t know that he was entering politics.

In 2005 , when he got a position of chief clerk at Sibbinda he was still confused but he was serving a politician who used to give him assignments, the late Hon. Felix Mukupi. “Before I was a member of SWAPO but not directly involved” added Lukaezi.

While in office at Sibbinda ,he was again elected as a member of Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU) as deputy chairperson of the Constituency representing public servants and finally was appointed as a member of National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), an umbrella board of NANTU and NAPWU to represent Sibbinda Constituency in SWAPO party under NUNW is when he realised that he has ended-up in politics because they had voting rights when they go for annual general meetings (AGMs), they vote to take those members to parliament and this was his last position where he signed.

Due to his dedication, experience and achievements, members of the community requested him to stand as a candidate of the Constituency for IPC. He stressed that because of the community request he asked permission from his family on whether to stand or not and was granted a permission to stand as a candidate for IPC after consulting the party and won the Regional Council election as Councillor for Sibbinda.

“I then realised that the work I was doing of representing people was leading me to represent the community of the Constituency and the entire region to take their grievances from Zambezi to National Council as a Parliament” he noted.

Asked on what he is enjoying in politics, he elaborated that, “What we enjoy in politics is not that much especially when you are from the side of the opposition, the only good thing am enjoying is that all my concerns am representing them myself in parliament, so I enjoy privileges, power and immunities of parliament. I can talk the way I feel like in parliament without any arrest as long I respect the laws, whatever I want to say in parliament am also at liberty, it’s a conducive environment to say what I want without stopping me and I enjoy that security and powers” he lamented.

Honourable Lukaezi he is the Chief Whip (Captain) of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) in the National Council, the house of review.

He however further called for unity in the region, and He appealed Zambezi residents to use their three (3) representatives at the National Council (Parliament), namely Hon.Lukaezi, Hon. Bennett Bushihu for Kongola Constituency and Hon.John Likando for Kabbe South Constituency.