NEW PERSONNEL LICENSING AMENDMENTS PROMULGATED UNLAWFULLY
New NAMCAR Part 60 (Simulators and Training Devices), Parts 61-67 (Personnel Licensing) and Part 141 (Aviation Training Organizations) amendments were suddenly promulgated – by seemingly unlawful means – on 26 June, 2023 in Namibia’s Government Gazette No. 8119.
Not only did the promulgation of these amendments come as a sudden surprise (with no prior warning from the NCAA), but the entire aviation industry was shocked to learn that holders of foreign aviation personnel licenses (including pilots, cabin crew and aircraft maintenance engineers), who are not Namibian citizens or Namibian permanent resident holders, can no longer convert their licenses to an equivalent Namibian license.
Scroll down to read AOPA's correspondence with both the NCAA and Minister of Works and Transport to resolve this critical issue for Namibia's commercial aviation industry...
– 2023 –
21 August – Letter from the Minister of Works and Transport to AOPA
Letter from the the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. John Mutorwa, responding referring AOPA to the NCAA's 18 August response letter to the Hon. Minister.
18 August – Letter from the NCAA ED to the Minister of Works and Transport
Letter from the NCAA Executive Director to the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. John Mutorwa, responding to the Hon. Minister's request for an NCAA response to AOPA's 15 August letter.
15 August – Letter from the Minister of Works and Transport to AOPA via Ellis & Partners
Letter from the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. John Mutorwa, to AOPA via its legal practitioners, responding to AOPA's 9 August 2023 letter.
9 August – Letter from AOPA to the Minister of Works and Transport
Letter from AOPA to the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. John Mutorwa, informing his esteemed office of the new Personnel Licensing amendment promulgation irregularities discovered during AOPA's investigation of the public Civil Aviation Register.
AOPA requests the Hon. Minister open his own investigation into the matter.
1 August – Aviation Directive Signed By the NCAA ED
Even though the NCAA claims no wrongdoing in the promulgation of its new Personnel Licensing amendments – especially with regard to the Foreign License Conversion irregularity disputed by AOPA – the NCAA Executive Director issued an Aviation Directive to amend the new regulations by executive order.
31 July – Letter from NCAA ED to AOPA
Letter from the NCAA Executive Director, Ms. Tosca Sem, to AOPA regarding the Executive Director's proposed Aviation Directive.
27 July – Letter from AOPA to the NCAA ED
Letter sent from AOPA to the NCAA Executive Director, Ms. Tosca Sem, submitting suggested amendments to the Executive Director's proposed Aviation Directive to address the foreign license conversion dispute that was caused by seemingly unlawful promulgation of new 26 June 2023 Personnel Licensing amendments.
20 July – Letter from AOPA to the NCAA ED
Letter sent from AOPA to the NCAA Executive Director, Ms. Tosca Sem, after AOPA once again inspected the public Civil Aviation Register (CAR) to request additional documents that appeared to be missing from the CAR.
19 July – Letter from AOPA to the NCAA ED
Letter sent from AOPA to the NCAA Executive Director, Ms. Tosca Sem, after AOPA first inspected the public Civil Aviation Register (CAR) to inform her that our attempt to inspect was unsuccessful even though the CAR should be a live registry open to the public during NCAA business hours.
18 July – Letter from AOPA to the NCAA ED
Letter sent from AOPA to the NCAA Executive Director, Ms. Tosca Sem, informing the NCAA that AOPA would be arriving the following day to inspect the Civil Aviation Register (CAR).
17 July – Letter from the Minister of Works and Transport to AOPA's Legal Practitioners
Letter from the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. John Mutorwa, to AOPA's Legal Practitioners, responding to AOPA's 14 July 2023 letter regarding the irregular promulgation of new Personnel Licensing amendments.
14 July – Letter from AOPA to the Minister of Works and Transport
Letter from AOPA to the Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. John Mutorwa, requesting a meeting with his esteemed office to discuss alarming irregularities with regard to the 26 June 2023 promulgation of new Personnel Licensing NAMCAR amendments.
11 July – Letter from AOPA to the NCAA ED
Letter from AOPA to the NCAA Executive Director, Ms. Toska Sem, requesting the NCAA and Minister of Works and Transport withdraw the 26 June 2023 Government Gazette No. 8119 due to multiple, significantly altered amendments that were never publicly consulted as required by the NAMCARs.
26 June – Government Gazette No. 8119 Promulgated
On 26 June 2023, Government Gazette No. 8119 was promulgated ushering new aviation Personnel Licensing amendments into law.
AOPA began receiving multiple requests from its members and the Namibian aviation industry to intervene as several before unheard-of and un-consulted amendments were included in the promulgated regulations that had never been in earlier drafts.
Most notably, the foreign license conversion privilege had been "Namibianized", meaning aviation personnel with foreign licenses could no longer convert to a Namibian license if they were not a Namibian citizen or permanent resident holder.
Due to Namibia's severe aviation personnel shortage, these new regulations dealt a devastating blow to Namibian commercial aviation overnight, and AOPA responded immediately to challenge the unlawful amendments.
