Airports security shocker

The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) and the police have confirmed there was only a verbal deal in place regarding security at the country's airports, prior to a formal agreement being signed this past Friday.This effectively means there was no formalised agreement in place against which the performance of the police could be benchmarked, in terms of both local and international aviation security standards. The first-of-its-kind formalised agreement comes as an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit looms large for Hosea Kutako International Airport in November. This can potentially see the facility being found non-compliant, which has grave implications for the country. The police and the NAC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Friday that, amongst others, provides the terms, conditions and guidelines for safety and security services at Namibia's eight airports. The agreement is for five years and is renewable. It deals with security searches, screening, training, capacity building, security and safety equipment and the manning of the airports. Police chief, Sebastian Ndeitunga, said the “first-of-its-kind” agreement is required by the ICAO, for the police to ensure safety and security at the country's airports. Ndeitunga described the signing as an historic day, saying the nation must know their safety is ensured at the country's airports. “We have been working together on a verbal agreement, but the ICAO needed to see a written agreement. It is the first-of-its-kind,” said Ndeitunga. “When you know you are going to be audited, there are standards laid down that you need to comply with. There was already a pre-audit done at the airport during which we were reminded that we have to draw up a MoU.”NAC acting CEO, Lot Haifidi, also described the signing of the agreement as a special occasion, but was reluctant to call it the first official agreement between the parties. Haifidi explained there has always been an agreement between the NAC and the police in place, but that it was a verbal deal. “We needed to formalise the agreement. The police have a constitutional duty to provide security and we, as the operator, need to act according to the law, as delegated to us,” he said.When the media further pressed Haifidi, reluctantly said it is the first formalised agreement, but added an agreement does not need to be a written one.“There had already been an understanding between us. Written and unwritten is still the same,” he said. “There is an upcoming audit and this is part of the preparations for the audit. The MoU has travelled through all the necessary corridors and we agreed to do it openly and transparently to put the public at ease on the safety and security at the airports.”According to Haifidi the MoU was also vetted by the attorney-general's office, before the signing ceremony. Ndeitunga said any business management guidelines must be set, and that is what has now happened.“In this case, we have cascaded our responsibility of the security at the airports and its passengers to meet international standards, as set up by the ICAO, as per their requirements.”Haifidi said the ICAO audits are based on evidence and therefore there must be a document based on the relationship between the police and NAC. “That is what we have done. It is indeed so that we should have entered into this agreement earlier, but it is done know.”Meanwhile, a review of Hosea Kutako International Airport by Airports Council International, conducted in March, recorded significant weaknesses in security.Also, at the beginning of this year it was reported that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines wanted to reconsider its continuation of flight operations to Namibia, due to a lack of improvement to security by the Namibian authorities. Substantial extra costs were incurred by the airline, which had to hire a private company to do secondary security screening controls, as it feared its global brand would be tarnished if an incident occurred on one of its flights.Weekly newspaper, Confidente, reported in January that security deficiencies forced KLM to resort to hiring a private security firm at its own expense, in a bid to protect its brand and reputation. KLM security director and deputy vice-president, Ronald Augustin, wrote a letter to the Namibian government on 18 January, bemoaning the poor aviation security performance at Hosea Kutako, and further highlighted the airline had incurred expenses for the secondary security controls, through November 2017, of approximately N$4.7 million.The letter was copied to the Namibian police, public enterprises minister Leon Jooste, then transport minister Alpheus !Naruseb, the Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), as well as the NAC. It highlighted poor security screening controls conducted by Nampol, the NCAA's supervisory role, and the absence of security threat awareness, training and understanding by all stakeholders, which had placed KLM's flight operations at a considerable risk.KLM said it had to take extra security measures at the airport, to guarantee international security standardsAccording to statistics provided by the NAC, the total passenger traffic handled at Namibia's airports for last year was 1.24 million, while international passengers stood at 578 417. There were 54 024 aircraft movements last year. ELLANIE SMIT

Airports security shocker

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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Airports security shocker

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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