Passport and IDs rolling out fast, Minister says

THE processing of identity documents and passports accelerated considerably at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration this year, after efficiency was improved and a change in attitude among officials was achieved, Minister Rosalia Nghidinwa has informed the National Assembly.

She said bottlenecks were cleared to a large extent and 10 000 ID cards were now being produced each month. “Production performance of IDs jumped to 29 475 in April this year after the Chamber of Mines donated a new server (to the Ministry) for the population registry to reduce waiting days from 724 to only 24 days for ID applications,” Minister Nghidinwa told the House.By May, production capacity increased to a record 39 645 cards and all backlogs were cleared, she said in her ministerial statement on Wednesday.Another success recorded was that citizens had collected 55 957 of a total of 88 859 uncollected ID cards.Waiting periods for passport applications could be reduced from 100 to 10 days, the Minster said.”We are investigating the possibility to introduce electronic or e-passports and electronic visas and get rid of the manual stamped visas.”However, there were many uncollected passports at the ministry’s offices, she added.”In future, we plan that uncollected passports will only be kept for three months and then they will be destroyed,” the Minister said.Home Affairs was also automating the population records so that statistics on births and deaths were available immediately for use in analysis and policy planning.Mobile teams started to visit secondary schools this year to issue IDs to Grade 10 and Grade 12 pupils, but a lack of funds prevented the teams from covering all schools.The Ministry planned sub-regional and constituency offices and needed more mobile teams to issue citizens with birth certificates and IDs.”We want to introduce more automation and computerisation programmes and we call on the private sector for their support in the realisation of these programmes,” Nghidinwa urged.Progress had taken place since the Angolan government abolished its visa requirements for Namibians, she said.The agreement was ratified by both parliaments and would be implemented soon, the Minister informed the National Assembly.She also mentioned that 4 250 Angolan refugees remained at the Osire refugee camp near Otjiwarongo, while 9 695 Angolans had been repatriated.”Production performance of IDs jumped to 29 475 in April this year after the Chamber of Mines donated a new server (to the Ministry) for the population registry to reduce waiting days from 724 to only 24 days for ID applications,” Minister Nghidinwa told the House.By May, production capacity increased to a record 39 645 cards and all backlogs were cleared, she said in her ministerial statement on Wednesday.Another success recorded was that citizens had collected 55 957 of a total of 88 859 uncollected ID cards.Waiting periods for passport applications could be reduced from 100 to 10 days, the Minster said.”We are investigating the possibility to introduce electronic or e-passports and electronic visas and get rid of the manual stamped visas.”However, there were many uncollected passports at the ministry’s offices, she added.”In future, we plan that uncollected passports will only be kept for three months and then they will be destroyed,” the Minister said.Home Affairs was also automating the population records so that statistics on births and deaths were available immediately for use in analysis and policy planning.Mobile teams started to visit secondary schools this year to issue IDs to Grade 10 and Grade 12 pupils, but a lack of funds prevented the teams from covering all schools.The Ministry planned sub-regional and constituency offices and needed more mobile teams to issue citizens with birth certificates and IDs.”We want to introduce more automation and computerisation programmes and we call on the private sector for their support in the realisation of these programmes,” Nghidinwa urged. Progress had taken place since the Angolan government abolished its visa requirements for Namibians, she said.The agreement was ratified by both parliaments and would be implemented soon, the Minister informed the National Assembly.She also mentioned that 4 250 Angolan refugees remained at the Osire refugee camp near Otjiwarongo, while 9 695 Angolans had been repatriated.