Govt targets paperwork, queues with major digital shift

Namibians should see fewer queues, document submissions and unnecessary visits to government offices as the country rolls out its national public key infrastructure (PKI).

Home affairs minister Lucia Iipumbu said the national digital trust infrastructure, launched in Windhoek on Monday under the DigiNam initiative and the theme 'Trust is Now Digital', should ultimately make government services faster, safer and easier to access.

“Digital transformation is not the digitisation of queues,” Iipumbu said, stressing that government services should be redesigned around the needs, time and dignity of citizens.

She said citizens should not be required to repeatedly submit certified copies or prove information that government institutions already lawfully hold and can securely verify.

The PKI uses digital certificates and cryptographic keys to enable secure identification, authentication, electronic signatures and the protection of electronic transactions.

Iipumbu said the technology will help establish whether a person is who they claim to be, whether a document has been altered and whether a digital transaction can be trusted.

She said these issues extend beyond information technology, touching on legality, accountability, security and public confidence.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN), as the country’s root certification authority, anchors the national chain of digital trust and oversees accredited certification service providers.

Iipumbu said Namibia had already put in place key legal and policy foundations for the digital transition.

She pointed to the Electronic Transactions Act of 2019 and said provisions relating to electronic signatures and accreditation of security products and services came into operation on 15 June.

Online safety

The national digital strategy 2025–2028 also provides for movement towards a unique digital identity, safer data exchange, interoperable government systems and public services delivered through secure digital channels.

Iipumbu said the development of secure digital identity was particularly important for the home affairs ministry because of its responsibility for legal identity, civil registration, national identity documents, passports, citizenship, immigration and border management.

She warned that weak identity systems could facilitate fraud, identity theft, unlawful movement and other forms of abuse.

“For a parent registering a birth, a young Namibian applying for an identity document, a citizen applying for a passport or a traveller using immigration services, secure digital identity should mean fewer repeated documents, faster lawful verification and greater certainty that both the person and the record are genuine,” Iipumbu said.