Rudolf Gaiseb
Like fine wine in the basement, Namibia’s legislative branch of state has gotten better with age.
Since the dawn of political independence in 1990, Parliament has allowed legislators to gather and openly discuss, debate, and consult on political, social, and economic matters as well as the legal ramifications for society.
It is made up of elected and/or nominated officials who oversee drafting and amending the nation’s laws. However, how Parliament is now is quite different from what it was pre-independence.
The corridors of the chambers and the evergreen Parliament Gardens were once home to legendary figures who were always first among equals.
Among them are founding National Assembly Speaker Mose Penaani Tjitendero (1990–2005), one of Namibia’s foremost diplomats, Theo-Ben Gurirab (2005–2015), and Peter Hitjevi Katjavivi (2015–2025), the men who have presided over the august House.
Madam Speaker,
For the first time, the National Assembly is now headed by a female speaker.
Her name is Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, and she was elected as the first female speaker of parliament in March 2025.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, who has been nominated to be Namibia’s first woman prime minister, entered the political limelight at the age of 27 when she was appointed the director general of the National Planning Commission in 1995. She joined Swapo’s politburo in 2002 and in 2003 was appointed as the minister of finance, a position she would go on to hold for around 10 years. She would also spend the next decade as the country’s premier.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila’s tenure at the Ministry of Finance would be remembered for her ambitious fiscal targets, which she presented in her first full budget of 2004, of limiting government spending. She was eventually to present the country’s first ever budget surplus in 2006/07 and 2007/08. During her tenure the country employed serious fiscal discipline.
Born on October 12, 1967, at Otamanzi in Okahao, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila went into exile in 1980 at the age of 13 and continued with primary education at Koidus Girls Secondary School in Sierra Leone in 1984 before completing secondary education at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Sierra Leone in 1987. She then went to read for a Bachelor of Science in Economics at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, USA, from 1991 to 1994, when she graduated and returned home. Back in Namibia, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila began working as a desk officer in the Office of the President under the presidency of the Founding President Sam Nujoma for a few months in 1995 before being assigned the role of Director General at the National Planning Commission.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila is credited as being a quick learner, having had to learn to walk the tightropes within a few months at the helm of the National Planning Commission, and for having had to take over the country’s purse at a time when revenues were down due to declines in taxes from diamonds and other mining sectors.
Parliament
The Parliament sits in the Tintenpalast, which was built between 1912 and 1913.
The executive branch has often held strong influence, leading to debates regarding the separation of powers.
Namibia’s legislative past is shaped by a colonial authority, where laws and administrative decision-making were entirely in the control of the colonising nations and communal lawmaking.
Namibia underwent a liberation struggle that resulted in independence in 1990, when the results of general elections led to the establishment of a parliament that is representative of the Namibian people. The two legal systems that coexist in Namibia today, customary and statutory laws, are the outcome of these historical developments.
According to parliament’s records, among the common names of traditional legal institutions were Oshoongalele in Oshiwambo, Ombungarero in Otjiherero, Kgotla in Setswana, Khuta in Silozi, and /abe-/haos in Khoekhoegowab (Damara/Nama).
These previous councils were based on society and operated accordingly.
Namibia’s Parliament is a bicameral legislature made up of the National Assembly and National Council. It arose from the United Nations-supervised Constituent Assembly in 1989 and superseded colonial legislative systems, with the National Council created in 1993 to protect regional interests.
The colonial legislature largely functioned as an instrument of apartheid rule and excluded most Namibians from representation and decision-making. After independence, Parliament became a democratically elected body meant to represent all citizens. However, while the institutional design is clearly more democratic, the quality of parliamentary engagement today is often disappointing.
Analysi
However, political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah notes that in recent years especially, parliamentary debates have frequently lacked depth and critical engagement with the real socio-economic challenges facing the country.
“In that sense, although the system is more legitimate than the pre-independence one, the current Parliament often appears weaker in terms of rigorous debate and intellectual leadership,” he said.
Meanwhile, after the November 1989 elections, this body drafted the Namibian Constitution, adopted 9 Feb 1990, and became the first National Assembly.
The National Assembly (lower house) began with 72 elected members, housed in the historic Tintenpalast (Ink Palace) or Parliament, built during German colonial rule.
The upper house was established in February 1993, following regional elections in November 1992, acting as a house of review.
Initially 72 voting members (1990–2014), it was increased to 96 voting members, plus eight presidential appointees, after the 2014 constitutional amendments.
The National Council comprises 42 members, with three representatives elected from each of the 14 regional councils.
The analysts noted that the adoption of the Constitution in 1990 was central in defining Parliament’s authority.
It established Namibia as a constitutional democracy and formally gave Parliament law-making powers as well as oversight responsibilities over the executive.
It also entrenched the principle of separation of powers.
Kamwanyah added that on paper, this created a strong institutional framework where Parliament should act as a key pillar of democratic accountability. The Constitution therefore remains one of the most progressive aspects of Namibia’s governance system.
The more difficult question is whether Parliament has effectively acted as a check on executive power.
The analyst believes that in practice, its performance has been limited. Namibia follows a system where the executive is drawn directly from Parliament, meaning the same political actors often dominate both institutions.
“This already weakens strict separation of powers. In addition, the president appoints the judiciary, which further concentrates influence within the executive branch,” he said.
Meanwhile, what is also observed is that politically, the long-standing dominance of a single party has also reduced the level of adversarial debate and oversight.
As a result, Parliament often struggles to hold the executive meaningfully accountable. Much of what happens in the chamber sometimes resembles political theatre or the politics of appearance rather than sustained scrutiny of policy decisions and governance failures.
“This contributes to the perception that the current Parliament is among the weakest Namibia has had in terms of robust debate and institutional assertiveness,” Kamwanya said.