A man employed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court yesterday for allegedly defrauding refugees out of N$836 385.
Severinus Sainga, who was employed as a refugee protection officer in charge of the number of refugees in Namibia, is facing one count of fraud for allegedly withdrawing the refugee agency's food allowance intended for 111 families at Osire camp for his private use.
He appeared before magistrate Nanghali Aihuki.
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Sainga, who was arrested on 11 December, has allegedly been withdrawing the money between January and November.
Aihuki postponed Sainga's case to 26 February 2026 for him to obtain legal representation.
Osire refugee spokesperson Victor Afande, a refugee from Kenya, told The Namibian yesterday that his family realised they were not receiving their N$1 765 when they noticed that other families received the payment despite also registering for the cash-based intervention (CBI) last year.
"In January some families realised that they weren't getting their money while other families were receiving money, despite registering for the CBI last year," he said.
Last year, the refugee agency introduced a monthly cash allowance to replace the food parcel programme that it handed out to families every month.
The money was channelled through a contract with the Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) Maris and could be withdrawn at any Woermann Supermarket.
A list of beneficiaries was sent to MTC who then distributed the money by providing a digital pin to cellphone numbers for families to withdraw their money.
The CBI is calculated as follows: N$760 for the head of the family, which includes N$335 for general use, N$200 for transport, N$150 for charcoal and N$75 for a hygiene kit. Additional family members receive N$335 each, and girls over the age of 10 receive an extra N$75 for sanitary pads.
Afande highlighted the difficulties of making ends meet and supporting his family without financial assistance from the refugee agency since January.
"You can imagine how difficult it is for our family to survive without financial assistance. How can the UNHCR leave over 100 families with no support while other families are getting their money?" he asked.
Afande added that the accused also allegedly used the names of three families on the beneficiary list who were resettled in the United States and Canada in 2024 and 2025.
The spokesperson opened a police case after organising a committee to report the discrepancies to the accused; however, they were turned away when informed that the money had already been sent through MTC Maris.
Afande said the committee took the matter to the deputy commissioner of the home affairs ministry with a list of 111 beneficiaries who have not received their money.
"When we started making follow-ups with the UNHCR, we were told by the protection officer that the money had already been sent via MTC Maris," he said.
Bernard Nicholas, who has been residing in Namibia for over 20 years, says his family of eight has been finding it difficult to survive since their financial assistance was reduced to the amount allotted for a family of three after one month.
"The Maris issue has affected me and my family very badly. We were used to having food parcels to feed eight members of my family, but the protection officer reduced our amount after January," he says.
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Nicholas adds that his family was supposed to receive N$6 000 but their amount was reduced to N$2 260 per month.
He hopes the case will be finalised and that affected families, including his own, will receive their monthly allowances and the additional amounts they have not received since January.
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