Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare said his office and that of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, under the direction of the President, have begun preliminary assessments of the ownership of government data and digital infrastructure.

Dr. Ngurare was responding to a question by the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) MP John-Louw Mouton on why the Namibian online visa system is allegedly controlled by an individual foreign developer and whether this poses a threat to the country's sovereignty.

The premier noted that the question was framed on the basis of "if true" and said the matter would require further clarification.

However, he underscored the government's commitment to safeguarding Namibia's digital sovereignty.

He acknowledged that in some instances, work in the digital space has been outsourced to entities outside Namibia, a situation he said the government does not believe is the correct approach.

"We are all concerned, and we should be jealously guarding our sovereignty. This means that, as I have repeatedly stated for 35 or 36 years, we have been able to build the necessary capacity within ourselves to develop both software and hardware."

He pointed to institutions such as UNAM, NUST and other local bodies with computer science expertise as examples of available local capacity.

The premier further cautioned that weaknesses in procurement processes, including questionable tender decisions and the involvement of intermediaries, can undermine national interests. 

"Therefore, in the end, the victim becomes the country, and that we must avoid and that we must prevent, and we should all agree that those are the bottlenecks and the middleman, the middlewoman, etc., that we must cut. We must cut it to preserve our national interest. So your point is not to say that it is out of bounds, but if it's true, as you have said, then we must be able to address it collectively."

The Prime Minister invited Mouton in his capacity as shadow minister to the ICT Ministry to engage further with the government on the issue, saying the protection of Namibia's sovereignty should transcend political lines and remain a collective national priority.