Noreen Sitali
Okahandja-The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security recently concluded its consultation on the Time Bill in the Otjozondjupa Region, where most views expressed favoured keeping summer time.
The committee concluded its Otjozondjupa regional consultation at an impressive gathering in Okahandja’s Samaritans Community Hall last week. The community aired their views, stating why and whether they preferred summer or winter time as stipulated by the Namibian Time Act, Act No. 3 of 1994. Opinions of stakeholders were invited by the home affairs ministry through written letters and public notices. According to the parliamentary standing committee, only three ministries and three regional governors responded to the invitation and only 3,507 views were received by February 22, 2017.
The committee’s head, Gotthard Kasuto, said the majority of views gathered thus far leaned towards summer time, citing the safety of school-going children and operating hours for businesses as some of their major concerns. “This consultation has seen a larger number of people expressing their views and opinions,” said Kasuto.
Due to the country’s time change, certain sectors of the country’s economy raised concerns that the time change impacts adversely on various sectors such as commercial, leisure and academia. Zambezi has been at the core in this regard for being the region that is completely cut off when the rest of the country shifts to winter time.
The committee conducted public hearings in the country’s capital Windhoek and throughout the regions. After all regional consultations, a report will be compiled and tabled in the National Assembly for further discussion and consideration.