A five-day consultative stakeholder engagement workshop for the parliamentary Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs and Petitions is underway at Opuwo in the Kunene Region.

The standing committee's engagement, which started on Monday, aims to strengthen the committee's understanding of institutions, legal compliance, implementation of relevant legislation, and matters affecting constitutional and legal governance.

The committee wants to listen to the stakeholders' presentation and engage them to understand their mandate, challenges, and areas where support or reforms may be required. 

Chief Public Prosecutor Advocate Lucious Matota, representing the office of the Prosecutor General, informed the committee that there is a critical shortage of prosecutors and support staff across all prosecutor offices nationwide.

There is also a need to create additional positions for prosecutors to help the prosecutor general's office carry out its professional mandate.

Shortage of prosecutors and support staff has led to work overload and high staff turnover, which has resulted in a backlog in the finalisation of criminal cases countrywide.