OMUTHIYA - The Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration in Oshikoto last week issued approximately 350 national documents to various communities in the region through its outreach programme in government’s ongoing efforts to take services to those in need.

Due to the vastness of the region some members of the communities in remote areas find it difficult to travel and acquire national identification documents, especially the marginalised people.

Without national documents one is often left out in terms of benefiting from government’s social programme such as registering for old age pension and social grants, which is aimed at uplifting the lives of the orphans and vulnerable children in sync with the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) that was initiated by President Hage Geingob to reduce poverty.

“We have drastically reduced the number of people without national documents in the region since 2016, especially late birth registration which is from one year upwards. The challenge was due to lack of human resources then, but as of now I can assure that the situation is under control in the region,” stated Rosalia Kandonga, the chief administrator in Omuthiya employed at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration.

Despite the significant strides made to arrest the situation of national documents, Kandonga is equally concerned over forgery cases among some Angolan nationals residing in Oshikoto Region. “The only segment which is left out is the Angolans and form part of the majority living in the rural areas of Oshikoto. There have been cases of forgery whereby they try to use someone else’s documents who is Namibian to register their kids, however we have tracked and turned down such applications following thorough investigations,” she stated when highlighting some of the challenges the ministry is facing in the region. Kandonga explained there are two types of birth certificates – one for those born in Namibia by a Namibian and the second issued to a child born in Namibia by a foreigner.

She added that home affairs officials have taken it upon themselves to conduct investigations due to the absence of an immigration officer.

Another critical challenge Kandonga cited is late or non-registration of death.
“There is a trend whereby the community does not report death cases either to our offices, police or traditional leaders for records when someone dies at the village. So, this is really a challenge because they do not come forth and some cases go unnoticed,” she stressed.