Patience Makwele
Home affairs minister Lucia Iipumbu on Thursday announced that many Namibians who require certificates of conduct for employment opportunities could soon receive relief, following the government’s allocation of funds to upgrade the country’s Automatic Biometric Information System (ABIS), which has been plagued by technical failures since 2025.
The system’s collapse due to aging infrastructure disrupted the processing of certificates of conduct, leaving some job seekers struggling to secure documents required by employers before they can be considered for employment.
The matter was brought before Parliament by Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) Member of Parliament Vilho Ihemba, who raised concerns that young Namibians were losing employment opportunities because they could not obtain certificates of conduct on time.
Responding to the concerns, Iipumbu said the ministry had prioritised restoring the system and had entered into an agreement with a supplier for a software upgrade aimed at improving stability, modernising the platform and reducing delays.
“Certificates of conduct are not discretionary documents for many citizens but practical prerequisites for employment,” Iipumbu said.
She said the ministry understood the impact the system failure had on citizens, particularly young people seeking employment, and that the modernisation programme was intended to address delays, reduce queues and improve turnaround times.
“The restoration and standardisation of the system have been treated as a priority, and the modernisation programme outlined above is specifically intended to prevent the queues and improve their productivity and turnaround times in the issuing of such certificates,” she said.
Iipumbu further clarified that certificates of conduct cost N$100 and remain valid for six months, ensuring that information used for employment and other sensitive decisions remains current.
The biometric system upgrade is expected to form part of a wider effort by the ministry to improve service delivery and strengthen the reliability of its document processing systems.
