It is very serious to read an article in the New Era edition of 24 October 2014 saying some foreigners are getting married to Namibians mainly to acquire Namibian citizenship and national documents.
It is revealed in that article that some foreigners are abusing our constitution and our laws.
This is, indeed, the most unacceptable development which our country has to address and prevent as a matter of urgency. It is surely true that our laws and particularly the constitution give the right to the men and women of full age to marry and found a family of their choice. But the constitution and our laws were not intended to be used by criminal and dishonest elements to benefit from those human rights to achieve their criminal and unlawful objectives and desires in our country. It appears human rights that we correctly have given to the people are now being totally abused by dishonest and immoral elements – both Namibians and foreigners alike. Some Namibians are now using these laws and getting into these so-called marriages to benefit from financial and material resources which foreign elements make available to them and bribe them with while the foreigners are using such maneuvers to settle in the country through hook and crook.
The law which was put in place to protect the human rights of people is now being used to undermine the same laws of the country and the intended purposes at the expense of the honest people of this country and the future of this land.
What will be the future of this country if we can have these crooks and dishonest people flock and settle in this country abusing our own laws?
I will not be surprised if in future these crooks will jeopardize this country after having settled here.
Some Namibians instead of being patriotic are falling victims of foreign elements who are using bogus marriages to settle in our country abusing the laws of the country. The problem cannot only be attributed to foreign elements but also to our citizens who allow themselves to be used in these maneuvers whether they are men or women. There is nothing wrong with someone marrying a foreigner but there is everything wrong if it is done for selfish economic and financial gains at the detriment to the country.
The only solution to this rather dangerous and worrying development is for our government as a matter of urgency to put up a committee composed of people from the Law Reform and Development Commission (LRDC) and some others from relevant ministries to closely look at our laws and come up with remedial measures.
The LRDC can chair such a Committee.
I am suggesting this because the issues mentioned in the newspaper are not only concerning one ministry but various ministries and agencies and should be tackled by a number of ministries.
We cannot just sit and do nothing about the issues raised in the said newspaper. Time is of essence
Dr Ngarikutuke Tjiriange