Staff Reporter
THE Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security, Edward Wambo, has called for a national coalition on identity, saying that identity underpins health, education, finance, social protection, justice, policing and local government.
Speaking at Dr Lemmer High School in Rehoboth, Hardap Region, during the commemoration of International Identity Day on Wednesday, Wambo said that every Namibian deserves to have their identity recognised from birth until death, and no one should remain invisible to the State.
According to Wambo, it is his Ministry’s pledge to protect identity, to extend it to those still waiting for it, and to carry it securely into the future.
Wambo said identity is not just a card in a wallet, but part of who a person is.
The commemoration was held under the global theme, “My Identity, My Shadow. Never Apart.”
“Look down at the ground on any sunny Namibian morning and you will see the truth of this theme. Your shadow was with you the day you were born. It has followed you to school, to work, to church, to the kraal and to the city,” Wambo said.
“It grows and shrinks with the hours of the day, but it never leaves you, and it belongs to no one else but you. So, it is the same with identity.”
Wambo said government views identity as a lifelong journey that the Ministry has a sacred duty to walk with every citizen.
He said that journey starts at birth through the e-Birth Notification system, which allows real-time electronic notification of births at health facilities to ensure swift registration.
That birth record, he said, is the foundation upon which the National Population Registration System builds a continuous, integrated record – the identity card at 16, passports, marriage registration, registration of one’s own children, and finally the dignified registration of death through the e-Death Notification system.
“From the first cry to the final farewell: one person, one identity, never apart,” he said.
The system also protects inheritance rights and provides vital statistics for national planning.
Wambo acknowledged, however, that challenges remain. Late registration of births persists, and some Namibians, especially in remote and marginalised communities, are still undocumented.
He said the Ministry is expanding its reach through regional offices, outreach campaigns and partnerships with traditional leaders, schools, health facilities, the police and development partners.
He reaffirmed Namibia’s commitment to achieving legal identity for all by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 16.9 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Turning to the digital future, Wambo said the second focus of this year’s commemoration is ensuring that one’s “shadow follows online as faithfully as it follows in the sun.”
With banking, government services and commerce increasingly moving online, he warned that identity theft, impersonation and fraud thrive where identity cannot be verified.
He said government’s answer is the national electronic identity, the e-ID. The smart card will contain a secure electronic chip storing the holder’s photograph and fingerprints, allowing one-to-one verification that the person holding the card is its owner.
The card is protected by international standards and cryptographic safeguards similar to modern e-passports, making forgery detectable and preventing secret alteration of data. The framework is anchored in Namibian law under the Electronic Transactions Act.
“In practice, it means a young person opening their first bank account without stacks of certified copies. It means a grandmother receiving her pension without travelling hundreds of kilometres to prove she is alive. It means accessing government services online, securely, from a village as easily as from the capital,” Wambo said.
He noted that Namibia, with support from partners such as the UNDP, is in the front rank of Africa’s digital identity movement.
Wambo made a special appeal to young people, who are the focus of this year’s global campaign. He said while the population register is strongest among adults, the frontier is now minors.
He gave learners a direct assignment: go home and check whether every child has a birth certificate and whether older siblings have identity documents, and bring those without them to the Ministry.
“You are not too young to be ambassadors of identity,” he told them.
He also called on teachers and youth organisations to explore the theme through art, storytelling, debate and performance.
Photo: Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security
