Ngaevarue Katjangua
Information ministry executive director Audrin Mathe says the ministry is working towards ensuring cyber resilient policies and security of online platforms.
Mathe said this at the 2023 Digital Government Africa Summit underway in Lusaka, Zambia. The summit convenes African ministers to discuss digitalisation and electronic governance for improved services in the continent.
The envisaged passing of the Data Protection Bill and Cyber Crime Bill, National Cyber Security Strategy, and the full operationalisation of the Electronic Transaction Act (2019) are part of efforts by the ICT ministry to ensure groundwork for the realisation of digitalised government service.
“Namibia recorded 2.7 million cyber-attacks in 2022 alone, which is a big number for a country as small as ours and this is why we are strengthening rules on our online platforms through robust implementation of the National Cyber-Security Strategy and the Electronic Transaction Act (ETA) of 2019,” said Mathe.
The enacted ETA of 2019 is yet to be operationalised pending the establishment of the electronic council which the executive director said should be set up in the next month.
The main objective of the Act is to provide a general framework for the promotion of the use of electronic transactions and for the admission of electronic evidence.
Speaking at the same summit, home affairs, immigration, safety and security deputy minister Lucia Witbooi said Namibia is building infrastructure to implement the issuance of digital identification cards to citizens.
This, according to her, makes the plans to roll out the digital identification smoother as Namibia’s civil registration system and identity management system, are still comprehensively managed through the National Population Registration System.
She reported that services such as birth and death can be notified electronically by health officials, and employment permits and tourist visas form part of the digitalization of government services.
*Ngaevarue Katjangua is a media officer in the Sub – Division Publications of the MICT.