KATIMA MULILO – The home affairs ministry continues to call upon parents and guardians to ensure they register their children and dependents for national documents, such as birth certificates and IDs.
The ministry recently estimated that approximately 250 000 Namibians do not have national documents, which accounts for 10% of the national population.
As of 2021, there were over 4 800 orphans and vulnerable people in Namibia who lack identity documents.
Home affairs spokesperson Margaret Kalo told New Era in an interview this week the ministry noted with grave concern that many children do not have birth certificates, as parents did not register them at birth.
“We see that as we register our clients, some of them are old and big. We ask them, you have a mother and father, but no documents? Hence the emphasis for parents not to wait long to register their children. If you wait for long, it will deprive the child of many opportunities. Once documents are in order and the registrar is satisfied, then there is no reason why people should not have documents.
We will not have undocumented people, and we will be cutting the backlog of undocumented people in Namibia,” she observed.
This situation disadvantages many children, as they end up without national documents, especially when they have to start school.
“We want to urge parents and guardians to come and register their children after birth. It is very important. You don’t want to wait for your child to be big so he or she can come and acquire their documents because there will be an investigation to be done for a child to be registered,” she urged.
For mothers whose children are fatherless or runaway fathers, she said such parents can approach the ministry to register their children, provided they have some sort of certified documents, such as an ID regarding the child’s father.
In the absence where the child’s father is nowhere to be found, mothers can still register their children on their surnames.
Once the father resurfaces, she said mothers can then approach the ministry to insert particulars of missing documents of the father.
“I know some mothers might feel ashamed that their child looks fatherless. But no worries, the life of the child should come first. Mothers should come and register their children immediately after birth. The ministry made it possible where mothers can already register their children after birth at every state hospital in all the 14 regions, provided they have all documents required,” she noted.
Equally, she emphasised the importance of the national documents when it comes to health, education and banking facilities, saying without such documentation, the child will be left out of such benefits.
“As a ministry, we offer passport, ID, birth certificates and citizenship services. These are the services we feel people can’t live without. Every day, people are born – and every day, we need to issue birth certificates. We feel our presence is very important in the lives of our clients. We want to ensure we offer quality and excellent services.”
She applauded first-time applicants, especially young people, for visiting the ministry to obtain their national documents.
– anakale@nepc.com.na