Census field staff and transport service providers will be paid from today onwards, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has said.
The agency clarified last week that it will make payment per region that is fully verified and processed.
This was communicated via a statement by NSA statistician general Alex Shimuafeni on Thursday.
His statement follows many young, anxious census workers who had taken to social media channels to voice their dissatisfaction with the salary delays after working in the 2023 National Population and Housing Census. “In order to avoid any further delays, NSA will ensure that payment requests on any list that do not have all the required documentations will not further hamper the process and they will be dealt with separately,” stated Shimuafeni.
Earlier, the NSA chief noted the delay was due to the fact that the NSA was busy with multiple verifications that included verification of all equipment used by the 13 000 enumerators, and verifying disciplinary matters to avoid the duplication of payments.
Shimuafeni added that the current outstanding payments of the more than 13 000 census field staff are the actual salaries for which payment verification is required.
“It is a legal requirement to deduct tax from any salary and pay over to the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA), irrespective of how much the amount is. The (census) employees will then have to claim that amount back from NamRA,” Shimuafeni explained in response to queries by some workers as to why they must pay tax.