WINDHOEK – The Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, says her ministry’s turnaround strategy has been a huge success, cutting layers of bureaucracy at the ministry.
The turnaround strategy that was launched in May is intended to transform the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration into a highly effective organisation with faster turnaround times, effective systems, shorter queues, efficient offices and improved customer service.
Speaking at a press conference held in the capital, Iivula-Ithana said the first phase of the strategy that focuses on three key areas – front offices, passports and ID production – has been impressive.
Highlighting the achievements of the first phase, in a jovial mood she said the interior office space has been redesigned to improve customer flow and streamline the queuing process.
Focus was also put on the layout and cleanliness of the office space in order to provide a professional environment for both employees and the public.
The turnaround strategy also focuses on the new signage aimed at giving general information to customers on the services offered, times, costs and on any other frequently asked questions.
“I promised the citizens of our country that we will deliver services better, faster and smarter with the aim of contributing to building a performance-oriented ministry and government as a whole,” she enthused.
The ministry also set up a help desk at the main office and dedicated information officers help customers upon entrance with advice on what service they need, provide them with the correct application forms and direct them to the correct queues and counters.
Commending her team for a job well done, she stressed that a backlog of more than 3 000 passports was cleared within the first month, while the processing of passports for Windhoek residents takes less than 3 days, while the processing time for regional passports has also decreased to less than 3 days, which is a 77 percent improvement, she noted.
On the issuance of IDs it now only takes two months for new applicants to get an ID.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also improved their dispatching system with the introduction of a daily passport dispatcher, meaning that passports printed are distributed to the various regions on the same day of printing.
At the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration the transformation is evident because the queues are now much shorter than before, information officers assist people on any queries, people in queues are seated and the environment is clean.
The 18-month strategy will cost N$126 million.