IPC MP Michael Mwashindange has raised concerns regarding hardships faced by elderly residents on Impalila Island at the far eastern strip of the Zambezi region.

He told the National Assembly that pensioners on the island have to buy food across the Botswana border and are required to pay import duties.

"These are pensioners that still get 1,600 million. Equivalent to an elder in Windhoek who would just probably walk to the shop and buy whatever it is that they need. Now for them to go to Katima, it's more than 300. And while that is the case, they are still required to pay import duties every time they import food or food items from Botswana."

Finance Minister, Ericah Shafudah acknowledged the concerns but clarified that the law currently does not discriminate in favour of specific groups such as pensioners when it comes to import duties.

"For now, the act does not discriminate on the basis of the age of vulnerability but on the basis of what has been imported or the goods that have been imported. But the question is very important. It can only mean if the law is going to change, it's not going to change only for the Namibians who are living in the Inpaleva. It was like I said; it does not discriminate. For as long as you are importing goods that attract duties, they will be levied."