The Minister of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security, Lucia Iipumbu, is urging Namibians to actively shape the law that governs migration in the country.
Iipumbu made the remarks at Oshakati during the launch of the public consultations on the Migration Bill.
Iipumbu said the consultations are a key step in modernising Namibia's migration management framework to ensure it reflects current realities.
She urged locals to contribute to the draft Bill in order for it to reflect the views of the people.
The minister added that migration is no longer a matter confined only to border control but touches directly on national security, economic development, investment, employment, and regional integration, amongst others.
"Our responsibility is to protect Namibia's sovereignty, safety and territorial integrity while also ensuring that our migration laws support lawful movement, investment, skills transfer, family unity and regional cooperation. This balance is important. Namibia must remain open to legitimate travellers, investors, workers and visitors who respect our laws while ensuring that our systems are strong enough to prevent abuse, irregular migration, trafficking, organised crime and threats to national security."
The Migration Bill is intended to replace and update aspects of the current Immigration Control Act, which Iipumbu said has served the country for many years but now shows gaps and presents challenges.
Iipumbu outlined that the bill seeks to introduce new permit categories, including investor permits, rare skills permits, spousal permits, special category permits for certain workers, and medical visa entry permits, among a host of others.
"The contributions that we are making should be formulated in a way that speaks to everyone and not just general statements. Sometimes when we have challenges, we will find a platform where we talk about all other challenges. We have laws, stateless laws that are still underway, and those ones will have their own platforms. Today, we must focus on migration and immigration issues."
Oshana Governor Hofni Iipinge urged participants from the 14 regions to approach the process with seriousness and provide tangible contributions.
"Oshana Region is a region of movement, enterprise, family networks and public service activity. Our people interact daily with government services, with communities from other regions, and with visitors who come here for business, education, health services, trade and family reasons. For that reason, matters relating to migration are not distant from us. They affect real people and real institutions. Today's engagement is therefore important because it gives citizens and stakeholders an opportunity to listen, understand and contribute."