The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on ICT, Sebastiaan Karupu, has expressed disappointment over the absence of key stakeholders at a five-day ICT consultative workshop held at Swakopmund.

The meeting was aimed at addressing critical issues around digital transformation in Namibia.

"There are two sectors that failed to turn up. 1 is the Minister of Education. This is a sector that requires digital technology daily, but they fail to turn out to come and listen to the service providers as to why they are not really reaching out. We have got many rural schools that do not have access to ICT and infrastructure and so on. They could've listened and also given their input because I am very disappointed now. And Nampost is also not here. Let us honour what we are saying as business unusual: we cannot continue doing usual business."

With digital technology evolving rapidly, Karupu stressed the urgency for Namibia to keep up to avoid being left behind.

He emphasised the crucial role of collaboration between government institutions and private sector players in promoting inclusive digital development.

Concerns around national digital security were also raised, with Member of Parliament John-Louw Mouton warning that the country remains vulnerable to cyberattacks if it is not adequately prepared.

"We need to be prepared on legislation, and this is something that I've been mentioning a lot, specifically our data protection act and our cybersecurity act or bills that need to be tabled. It has been quite a while, and we have had a very long time to bring this to the table, and I think that it is now the time that we put the bills on the table so that we can start protecting our data."

NBC Director General Stanley Similo highlighted the financial challenges facing the national broadcaster.

He noted that without sufficient government funding, the public broadcaster would continue to struggle to modernise its operations and meet global broadcast standards.

"We also highlighted the aspect of funding, which is not working for NBC because, for as long as that aspect of the business remains at the numbers where they are, NBC as an entity will always struggle. Because as we speak now, you'll find that the government subsidies equate to around 70% of our operational cost, whilst the difference there is that we generate from our own revenue."