The National Council's Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Security and Constitutional Affairs is disappointed by the slow implementation of Namibia's National Action Plan for Border Post Reform.

During a stakeholder meeting in Windhoek, the Committee questioned the National Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Namibia Revenue Agency about progress since the plan was adopted in mid-2023.

The Committee found that the National Planning Commission (NPC), tasked with coordinating all ministries and submitting quarterly progress reports, has not held any coordination meetings or submitted reports.

Vice Chairperson of the standing committee, Andreas Amundjindi, said the absence of meeting minutes proved a lack of coordination.

"All we needed was to have those reports on the minutes of that meeting, and if there are no minutes of that meeting, it means that that coordination did not take place because that is the only evidence that we can gather to see that NPC as a coordinating agency had that particular engagement. To conclude that, because there are no minutes of the meeting and only a request for the report, we are concluding that there was no meeting."

NPC's Executive Director I-Ben Nashandi admitted there were gaps in how the plan was implemented, saying he found no clear structure guiding its rollout.

"The action plan was developed at the level of the director general at the time. That is all I could gather. I could not gather any structure below that that should be applied according to that. Of course, there are officials in the office who have prior engagements, like the one that I said that took place in the shop of the movement."

Meanwhile, the Ministries of Finance and Works and Transport have not completed their assigned tasks.

Finance officials claimed they were unaware of the detailed plan, a response that the Committee criticised.

NamRA Commissioner Sam Shivute reported that over 1,200 employees had received customer care training and promised a detailed report on training at border posts. He also noted ongoing logistical challenges, including a shortage of vehicles.

The Committee warned that delays and poor conditions at border posts damage Namibia's reputation and hinder trade.