Namibian Ministry of Home Affairs unprofessional and Xenophobic

HOME AFFAIRS HOSTILE TO FOREIGN DOCTORS

WRITTEN BY ROCHELLE NEIDEL ON 17 OCTOBER 2014.




SOME foreign doctors working in the country have expressed their frustration with the lengthy process of renewing their work permits describing the process as extremely cumbersome.

The doctors say this has led to many of them going to work in South Africa where authorities are more welcoming.

They complain that applications for renewal of work permits take up to nine months without anyone at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration attending to them.

A doctor, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, “This is xenophobic and unfair. The reason why we came here was because there were no jobs for us in Zimbabwe and we came to seek a livelihood here.”

The doctor also said the two-year work permits that the ministry gave foreign doctors were very short.

Some of the doctors say they are trying to make a living because they have established their homes here and for them to re-apply every two years is a lengthy process, while sometimes they just don’t get the permits.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Home Affairs and Immigration Ambassador Patrick Nandago rubbished claims that the ministry was “acting xenophobic” and said the ministry addressed issues regarding permits weekly.

The ministry also came under fire recently when Secretary to Cabinet Frans Kapofi accused the ministry of being xenophobic in an article carried by daily newspaper, The Namibian.

Kapofi, who also chairs the board of directors of the SME Bank, was quoted in the local daily after the ministry allegedly refused to issue work permits to Zimbabwean nationals linked to the bank.

Asked whether these allegations had any substance, Nandago refused to comment saying “I can’t comment on what my senior has said”

He, however, said the renewal of work permits is dependent on the institution that the applicants work for and the recommendations received from these relevant institutions.

Namibia has a serious skills shortage in many highly specialised fields, and employers question why the ministry denies skilled foreign nationals work permits when the country has a shortage of qualified personnel in sectors like health.

Nandago denied that the ministry showed hostility towards foreign doctors who take up employment in Namibia.

“There is no justification for us to deny permits to skilled foreigners while there is a shortage in the country,” he said.

 The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration Elia Kaiyamo complained that quite often, foreign doctors did not honour the conditions of their work permits.

He said Government contracted foreign doctors to work in State health facilities, but they would leave to set up private practices, and that made the ministry reluctant to renew their work permits in some cases.

 “We need doctors in our country, but sometimes they are not honest. They just want to come and make money in our country, but they do not follow the correct rules and procedures.

“They need to go through the registration process and be registered under the Medical Board, but they just want to come and marry our ladies to get work permits,” he fumed.


Non-Namibian doctors have also accused the Health Professions Council of deliberately failing them the test that they have to take to qualify for registration as doctors in Namibia.

However, the Registrar of the council Cornelius Weyulu said most foreign doctors that go through the oral test offered at the council pass, and only those who were unprepared would fail the test.

“Evaluation is done on major domains namely general medicine, general surgery, mental health, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, anaesthesiology, family medicine and orthopaedic/orthopaedic Trauma.

“Reasons for failing vary from the candidates not having prepared well for the evaluation to lack of knowledge, skills and competency in one or more domains,” Weyulu said

Due to the lack of medical experts in the country, Government has had to rely heavily on doctors from other African countries.

The lack of qualified medical personnel has resulted in a situation where doctors and nurses find themselves overburdened, and the situation appears to have worsened rather than improved.

At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Health and Social Services announced plans to bring in doctors from countries such and Ethiopia , Zambia, Senegal Kenya and South Africa to address the shortage of medical doctors in the country.

Xenophobia an everyday reality in Namibia

Unam slams 'xenophobic attacks' on foreign staff

Submitted by NambianSun203 on Fri, 2013-06-21 08:20

WINDHOEK ELLANIE SMIT

The University of Namibia (Unam) has labelled recent concerns over the appointment and recruitment processes at the institution as 'xenophobic attacks'.
Recently a document surfaced targeting the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) and its appointment of the faculty dean in the Department of Animal Science, Professor Francisco Mausse, who is a foreigner.
The report also raised issues around Mausse's academic credentials and qualifications and queried if the proper procedures were followed when he was appointed.
Yesterday, in a media statement Unam director of communications, Edwin Tjiramba, described the issues raised as xenophobic behaviour from “staff members” which will not be tolerated.
Tjiramba's statement also included an extensive list of Mausse's work experience, qualifications, background and how it came to be that he was recruited.
According to the statement in September 1997, 12 Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries, including Namibia, signed a Protocol on Education and Training covering several fields of co-operation.
He said Unam has been benefitting from high-level expertise from the region, otherwise not available at the university or in the country.
On the basis of the SADC protocol, Unam has intensified its efforts towards full utilisation of regional available human resources, given that most of these countries share common challenges.
Tjiramba said it is known that Namibian Lecturers and professors are also involved in teaching and research at different South African universities. The recruitment of Mausse from Mozambique was done in the same spirit, said Tjiramba.
“Unam does not condone this xenophobic behaviour because, this is a university and by its nature will always have foreign lecturers and professors at its establishment, especially those from the SADC region as per the SADC Protocol on Education and Training,” according to Tjiramba.
It was stressed that although the university management supports freedom of expression, disciplinary action may be considered against staff members in view of xenophobic tendencies and animosity among staff.
This affected teaching and learning and the quality of research, development and growth of the faculty and its departments.
Mausse joined Unam as associate professor in January, 2011. He was appointed based on his research and teaching experience, as well as his publications and his unique expertise.
In October 2011, Unam advertised positions for deans of various Faculties. Mausse applied for the position he now occupies and was appointed until December 2015.

Namibia 'highly corrupt'

Namibia 'highly corrupt'

JO-MARÉ DUDDY

NAMIBIA is still regarded as a highly corrupt country worldwide, the latest report of Transparency International (TI) shows.

Like last year and in 2007, Namibia again scored 4,5 points on TI's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) this year.
Any country getting less than five points is perceived as 'highly corrupt' by the global watchdog for domestic and public sector graft.
Namibia now ranks 56th out of 180 countries, most of which failed to meet the TI benchmark of five points. Last year it held the 61st position, compared to 57th spot in 2007.
The recent trend is a far cry from the period of 1998 to 2002, when Namibia was continuously ranked amongst the top 30 least corrupt countries in the world.
This year Namibia also has the dubious honour of being amongst the top six countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, only three of these countries achieved a score of five points and higher: Botswana (5,6), Mauritius (5,4) and Cape Verde (5,1).
The rest, starting with the Seychelles (4,8) and ending with Somalia (1,1), are all perceived as highly corrupt.
Although Namibia's 2009 score is an improvement on its all-time low of 4,1 points from 2004 to 2006, it is a drastic drop from its record-high of 5,7 points in 2002.
Top achievers in this year's CPI are New Zealand, with 9,4 points out of a possible ten, followed by Denmark (9,3), Singapore and Sweden (both with 9,2).
The bottom three places go to Somalia, Afghanistan (1,3) and Myanmar (1,4).
Releasing the 2009 CPI in Berlin yesterday, TI said as the world economy begins to register a tentative recovery and some nations continue to wrestle with ongoing conflict and insecurity, it was clear that no region of the world is immune to the perils of corruption.
'At a time when massive stimulus packages, fast-track disbursements of public funds and attempts to secure peace are being implemented around the world, it is essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability, in order to break its corrosive cycle,' TI Chair Huguette Labelle said at the launch.
TI said the overall results in the 2009 index 'are of great concern because corruption continues to lurk where opacity rules, where institutions still need strengthening and where governments have not implemented anti-corruption legal frameworks'.
'Corrupt money must not find safe haven. It is time to put an end to excuses,' said Labelle.
Bribery, cartels and other corrupt practices undermine competition and contribute to massive loss of resources for development in all countries, especially the poorest ones, the watchdog warned. According to a recent TI report, more than 283 private international cartels were exposed between 1990 and 2005, which cost consumers around the world an estimated US$300 billion in overcharges,
'Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well-performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society,' said Labelle.
jo-mare@namibian.com.na

Institutional xenophobia at Namibian Health Ministry

Institutional xenophobia at Health Ministry

Submitted by NambianSun203 on Thu, 2013-07-04 08:35

Concerned foreigner writes:
There seems to be xenophobia coming from the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS) towards expatriate health workers. When the new permanent secretary left the Ministry of Agriculture the expatriate veterinary doctors were very happy that he left their ministry and warned us in MOHSS to be counting our days.
Soon after assuming office, he visited the Oshakati State Hospital where he requested a separate meeting with Namibian doctors and pharmacists only, a meeting even those who acquired Namibian citizenship but not born in Namibia were not allowed to attend. The foreign health professionals were left wondering what they were discussing. It probably was a matter of national security somehow related to MOHSS. Later on at a meeting in Swakopmund, he said that Namibia should never been colonised by the foreigners again and instructed that no foreign health workers should attend any workshop except with his office's permission. It's very unfortunate, as these meetings are meant to increase health workers' knowledge for the benefit of Namibian patients. One workshop was cancelled because there were too many expatriate/foreign health care workers. The information gained at these workshops may not necessarily be used elsewhere as most could just be the Namibian guidelines on specific management.
There may be euphoria about the new medical school, but it's known all over the world that a medical school does not necessarily solve a country's health needs. Check countries like the UK, Canada, Australia and South Africa where there are many medical schools yet they still import doctors and pharmacists.
There is also the experiment with the enrolled nurses who are being sent to train in Russia, Ukraine etc. The most shocking thing is that most of these candidates do not even qualify to do nursing at Unam, and cannot be registered to practise medicine in the countries that train them; at times they are not even allowed to touch patients. So dubious are such institutions that they mostly train Africans, not their own citizens. It would be a very good political move when there are many doctors in Namibia, but be careful of their competencies.
Most foreign doctors, as they are called here, will leave the country due to disgruntlement, not just with the salaries. Check with the MOHSS on how many have left the country since 2012. There is also the problem of getting permanent residence; one is not assured of residence permit even if one stays in Namibia for the required years. MOHSS may have made moves to block access to permanent residence status. It won't even give any recommendations on the basis that the foreign doctors and pharmacists will just join the private sector as if they will be treating foreign patients once in private sector.
You cannot stifle private practice in the hope that you will strengthen the public sector. In any case the young Namibians will leave the public service, as can be seen by the Namibian pharmacists - just count how many are left in the public sector.
Private practice has anyway a propensity for saturating itself as there is a small population in Namibia, the practitioners will simply step on each other's toes. It's good for the Namibian population to have opportunities to choose who treat them. The other lame excuse is that MOHSS spent money to recruit the health workers, just check how many the ministry actually recruited, many were recruited from Catholic Health Services, CDC and donor-affiliated institutions.
There is also a problem with the press, which always identifies the country of origin of the doctor when something happens, like when the newspapers reported about a Tanzanian doctor at Grootfontein and a DRC doctor at Gobabis but when the pregnant woman died at Katutura, there was no mention of the nationalities of the doctors involved in the management of the patient, most likely because they were Namibians, but I stand to be corrected. I am not condoning malpractice but to be balanced in reporting the cases. The result is fear by the many expatriate doctors who will play defensive medicine and refer any uncomfortable cases to the next hospitals to the detriment of the system and families.
There is a need for open-mindedness in the MOHSS and professionalism. One can never suppress professionals; they will simply leave the country. Watch this space and see what will happen by the end of the year.

FOR FAR TOO LONG FOREIGNERS SUFFER IN NAMIBIA DESPITE CONTRIBUTING POSITIVELY TO THE COUNTRY INTELLECTUALLY AND ECONOMICALLY. THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH IS NOT THE ONLY ONE, THROUGHOUT THE NAMIBIAN GOVERNMENT YOU WILL FIND XENOPHOBIA AND DISCRIMINATION. NAMIBIA IS AN UNGRATEFUL PLACE AND DOES NOT HAVE AN INTEGRATION POLICY FOR THE FOREIGN SPOUSE OF A NAMIBIAN CITIZEN; EMPLOYMENT IS HARD TO GET AS ALL ARE RESERVED FOR EVEN UNQUALIFIED NAMIBIANS, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS EQUALLY DISCRIMINATE AND IMPOSE HIGHER DEPOSITS FOR PURCHASES OF HOMES, CARS, ETC... A HIGHLY XENOPHOBIC PARLIAMENT CHANGED THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION ALLOWING THE SPOUSE OF A NAMIBIAN CITIZEN TO ACQUIRE CITIZENSHIP BY IMPOSING A 10 YEAR DELAY; EFFECTIVELY CRIPPLING THE COUPLE AND LIMITING AND EXCLUDING THE COUPLE FROM PRIVILEGES AVAILABLE IN THE COUNTRY. CHANGE IS REQUIRED!