A prisoner transfer agreement signed between Namibia and Zambia in 2012 has come into effect, according to correctional services authorities.

The transfer of serving prisoners, Namibia's commissioner general for correctional services Raphael Tuhafeni Hamunyela said Friday, is voluntary.

Currently, two Namibians are serving in Zambian jails while 89 Zambians are imprisoned in Namibia.

Hamunyela said the Namibians serving in Zambian jails are keen to come and complete their sentences here while some of the Zambians do not seem to be interested in going back to their country.

"Zambian prisons are beyond overcrowded. Our people there want to come home. As for some Zambian inmates here, they do not show interest in going home; I think it is because of overcrowding in their prisons," Hamunyela said during president Hage Geingob's tour of a correctional services training college at small town of Omaruru about 200 kilometers from Windhoek.

Most of the Zambians serving sentences in Namibian jails were arrested for immigration and other petty crimes.

The transfers will help ease overcrowding in some of the country's prisons and will save the two governments money.

According to Hamunyela, Namibia is in the process of negotiating a similar agreement with South Africa, Botswana and Angola. Endit

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