Query: I want to know why the ministry of trade is allowing fake products to be sold on the market by Chinese people in Namibia?
The Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development is responsible for the development and management of Namibia’s economic regulatory regime, on the basis of which the country’s domestic and external economic relations are conducted.
The ministry is also responsible for promoting growth and development of the economy through the formulation and implementation of appropriate policies to attract investment, increase trade, develop and expand the country’s industrial base.
This is to say, our ministry doesn’t work with product (s) supervision, as envisaged by the individual complaining in the papers.
Goods are regulated by standards and there is an institution that deals with regulating the quality of products being imported into Namibia and exported out of the country. This institution is the Namibia Standards Institute (NSI).
The institution was set up to regulate and provide a framework for frontier and market surveillance. Their agenda is to curb the influx of products that do not meet the country’s quality and safety requirements in the interests of the Namibian citizens.
Query: Why are there no ingredients specified on Oshinge products?
Response: The business owners are in the process of labelling ingredients on the products. Rest assured that the ingredients are there and are soon to be revealed.
Elijah Mukubonda, Chief Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, E-mail Address: emukubonda@mti.gov.na