Nathanael Heita
HUNDREDS of young people and a big number of elderly residents of the
Ohangwena constituency of the Ohangwena Region flocked to the constituency office Thursday to apply for birth certificates and national identity cards.
The home affairs ministry has dispatched officials to constituency offices in an attempt to address the rampant problem of citizens having no national documents.
However, the number of those who showed up at the constituency office at the Onhuno village on Thursday surpassed, by far, the number expected by the officials.
There were long queues and what was meant to be a one-day exercise had to be extended by one more day to accommodate those who were left unattended the first day.
Informanté spoke to some of those who were queuing.
Modestus Joseph said: “Many people do not have national documents because the process to get an ID is complicated. It is easier to get a voter’s card than to get an ID. We are however happy that officials have decided to bring the service to us, instead of us always spending a lot of money travelling to far-away home affairs offices, but at the end of the day come back empty-handed.”
Among those who flocked to the Ohangwena constituency office were school-age youths applying for birth certificates.
There were also elderly people applying for ID cards.
Citizens without national documents encounter problems when it comes to government services such as the monthly old-age grant. They did also not benefit from the recent COVID-19 grant of N$750 per person.
Constituency Councilor Johannes Hakanyome said many young people have no national documents because even their parents have no such documents, and that complicates the process.
“However, we are working very hard to help them,” he said.
