NAMOSA officially launched

Rudi Bowe

Namibian Maritime Officers and Shipping Association (NAMOSA) officially launched the non-profit association last Friday.

NAMOSA was first registered as a Union with the Ministry of Labour in 2003 and in 2018 it was changed to an association not for gain. Marine engineers and navigation officers who are Namibian Maritime and Fisheries Institute (NAMFI) graduates subsequently registered NAMOSA on 30 November 2018 with the Business Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA).
NAMOSA was established by a group of maritime officers who graduated from NAMFI and seeks to represent and protect the interests and welfare of the rest of these officers, in their capacities as marine navigation and engineering officers.
Erongo Governor, Cleophas Mutjavikua in his re-marks during the official launching of the inaugural NAMOSA has cautioned associations to avoid being used to achieve political agendas and instead advocate for the purposes for which they were created.
Mutjavikua said “We know that currently some of the unions are being used to achieve funny political agendas and have diverted from their intended aims and should not use workers to achieve hilarious political agendas”.
The governor advised that the associations should remain with issues affecting workers and their needs and that NAMOSA should be an association of discipline and to embrace the process of collective bargaining and negotiations as a way of trying to resolve differences. NAMOSA Chairperson, Phillipus Iwete said “NAMOSA will monitor and en-force the Namibianisation Policy and its strict adherence as per government directives and policies concerning the maritime industry expressed a number of difficulties previously encountered by maritime officers in the industry over the past few years”.
Iwete added that their aims are to address challenges faced by maritime officers by being the link between the industry and related stakeholders and although the officer’s challenges in the industry and it will not be solved immediately and that NAMOSA would tackle them head-on as soon as possible.
According to Iwete there are more than 500 qualified Namibian engineers and officers in the industry that are not represented, while the crew members are affiliated to unions. The fishing industry has also many associations that represent their members’ interests. The plight of NAMFI graduates remains a growing concern for many years and NAMOSA will represent and protect the welfare of all these maritime officers.
The association will mainly advocate for the transformation of the maritime industry and will be tackling challenges faced within the fishing industry and strive to improve aspects of it related to the welfare of Namibian maritime officers in particular.