An Investigation Into Security Challenges Posed By Marriages Of Convenience Relating To Namibian Citizenship: 2009-2014

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ABSTRACT 

The overall purpose of this study was to investigate security challenges posed by marriages of convenience between Namibian women and foreigners to establish remedies of weeding out or reducing the occurrence of marriages of convenience. This study adopted a mixed research approach by using both qualitative and quantitative research design. The instruments of data collection were both questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of forty Namibian women who got into marriages of convenience with foreign nationals. Qualitative research method was conducted by means of interviews with four (4) selected government officials who had knowledge on the subject of marriage of convenience. The four government officials were selected from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration and the Ministry of Safety and Security. This study found out that marriages of convenience were orchestrated by poverty. The Namibian victims of marriages of convenience were promised lump sum payments followed by periodic monthly payments. This enticed the unmarried but needy Namibian women to enter into bogus marriages with foreign nationals. The study also revealed that some women entered into these marriages without clearly ascertaining the motives of their foreign partners. Whereas the Namibian women knew that they were getting into legitimate marriage bond, the foreign nationals on the other hand were using marriage as a passage to achieve legal residence status to achieve other ulterior motives, unknown to their unsuspecting Namibian partners. Currently, Namibia does not have a law that regulates marriages of convenience and this pose security challenges to the nation.

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