PRIME Minister Nahas Angula yesterday reintroduced a bill to amend the Namibian Constitution in the National Assembly.

The amendment would extend the period for foreigners to acquire citizenship to ten years and reduce the term of office of regional councillors from six to five years.

The National Assembly had passed the amendment a year ago, but the National Council rejected some of the changes.

"The bill was thus returned to the Office of the Attorney General for polishing up," the Prime Minister said yesterday.

The Amendment Bill provides for extending the waiting period required for acquiring Namibian citizenship by marriage from two years to ten years for foreigners "ordinarily residing in Namibia as spouse".

It also extends the waiting period required for non-Namibian citizens who apply for Namibian citizenship by naturalisation from five years to ten years of continuous residence in Namibia.

The term of regional councillors will be reduced from six to five years, but they can be re-elected.

The function of the office of the Ombudsman to investigate corruption will be removed by deleting the word "corruption" from the functions of the Ombudsman in the Constitution to avoid overlapping with the functions of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The amendment bill also provides for an entirely new article to accommodate the ACC.

Debate on the bill will start on Tuesday.