25th October – 10th November 2021, Windhoek, Namibia – The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was adopted by Member States of the AU primarily as a self-monitoring tool designed to promote policies, standards and practices that will lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated economic integration in Africa. As at November 2021, the APRM comprises of 41 Member States who have voluntarily acceded to the Mechanism.
Namibia acceded to the APRM in January 2017, at the APR Forum of Heads of State and Government meeting of 28 January 2017, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as the 36th APRM Member State. At accession, H.E. Dr. Hage G. Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia, stated his support for the APRM as a process that plays a pivotal role in enabling Africa to achieve the noble Aspirations and Developmental Goals of Agenda 2063 and its First-Ten Year Implementation Plan.
Namibia is to be commended for its full implementation of the APRM good governance programme. From 2017-2018, Namibia completed plans for operationalising APRM, and by November 2019, all APRM national structures were established, including the APRM National Secretariat led by its CEO and the Focal Point for APRM in Namibia, Ambassador Lineekela Mboti, as well as the Namibia APRM National Governing Council (NGC) consisting of eminent citizens representing civil society, government and the private sector to oversee good governance reports and their implementation in Namibia. The NGC was inaugurated by H.E Dr. Hage G. Geingob in November 2019, and is led by its chairperson, Ambassador Wilfried Emvula. The national APRM bodies immediately embarked on delivering an APRM Targeted Review on Youth Unemployment. This Targeted Review Report was presented to APRM Heads of State and Government at a Summit held in Addis Ababa in February 2020.
From August 2020, the Namibia APRM NGC oversaw the development of a Country Self-Assessment Report (CSAR) that was submitted to the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons and APRM Continental Secretariat in early October 2021, leading to the Country Review Mission to Namibia taking place from 25 October to 10 November 2021. The Mission includes experts in governance from 11 peer countries in Africa who provide an independent viewpoint on governance challenges and good practices in Namibia.
The Country Self-Assessment Report produced by Namibia is of high quality, and provides a balanced view of good governance challenges and commendable practices, which have been verified for inclusion in the final report, where challenges as well as commendable practices will be shared with peer countries in the APRM.
During the Country Review Mission, the team, led by the Chairperson of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons, Ambassador Ombeni Sefue, met with H.E. Dr. Nangolo Mbumba, Vice President of Namibia, at a session with Cabinet that included the Rt. Hon. Dr. Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, Prime Minister of Namibia and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. During the Mission, the Review Team also had working sessions on good governance with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Prof. Peter Katjavivi, MP who was accompanied by MPs from the National Assembly as well as a meeting with members of the National Council led by Hon. Emma Muteka, MP and Deputy Chief Whip at the National Council.
A session with the Honourable Justice Peter Shivute, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, also took place and included senior participants from the judiciary including Honourable Justice Petrus Damaseb, Deputy Chief Justice. Other review mission working meetings included a session with Hon. Obeth M. Kandjoze, Director General of the National Planning Commission; a session with the Africa Group of ambassadors; sessions with H.E Sinikka Antila, the EU ambassador to Namibia and Sen Pang, UN Resident Coordinator; and a session with Dr. George Simataa, the Secretary to Cabinet and Executive Directors of Ministries.
The Review Mission held stakeholder meetings in all 14 regions of the country, meeting with Governors, Mayors, local authority and regional chairpersons and councilors from all regions, as well as stakeholders from State institutions, Civil Society, and the private sector in Windhoek and all regions of Namibia.
The Namibia Country Review Report will be submitted to the APR Forum of Heads of State and Government meeting in Addis Ababa in February 2022, and will be accompanied by a costed National Plan of Action (NPoA) that addresses the governance challenges highlighted in the Namibia Country Review Report. The NPoA will assign responsibility for implementation to institutions including governmental, CSO and private sector bodies and associations, and will be harmonised with the Sixth National Development Plan.
The Country Review Mission, and APRM Namibia Focal Point and National Governing Council are confident that Namibia has all the tools, capacities and political support necessary for implementation of the NPoA in order to improve governance and contribute to the attainment of the sixth NDP, Harambee Prosperity Plan, and Vision 2030, as well as the AU Agenda 2063, Africa’s long term plan for socio-economic development.
The Country Review Mission is grateful to the Government and People of Namibia for their warm welcome and hospitality in a truly African fashion, as well as for the excellent facilities put at their disposal during their entire stay in Namibia. The Mission commends the Namibian Government and People for their openness and transparency in sharing all needed information, which in itself is an important component of good governance.
