The House spent the year explaining its procedures instead of producing laws. A country under strain got a press release where leadership should have been.
Parliament tried to cover its tracks this past week. It issued a calm, tidy description of how legislation is supposed to move through the House. Readings, stages, committees, the full choreography. It sounded reassuring, almost confident.
But institutions only reach for process when they have run out of results. The country closes the year with two budget bills and nothing more. Everything else was left to sit, drift or quietly expire.
The governing party’s reduced majority has turned the chamber into a place where internal behaviour matters more than the opposition’s vote count. A narrow margin can still be effective, but not when ministers are away, backbenchers carry unresolved grievances, and caucus trust sinks so low that MPs are instructed to photograph their ballots during committee elections.
The opposition, meanwhile, has not provided the balance that a legislature with tight numbers requires. It insists its conduct reflects vigilance. The evidence suggests something different.
Oversight has mutated into performance — long speeches that go nowhere, clashes over tone, and an endless cycle of procedural irritation. Time that should have strengthened bills was spent generating friction. If the majority drifted, the opposition helped pull it further off course.
The Executive set the pace, and the pace never settled. The presidency opened the year with promises of speed and direction. Key bills were late, unclear, or missing entirely. A chamber with tight margins needs groundwork: preparation, persuasion and consistent attendance. None of those were reliably present. The legislative agenda stalled before it ever gained momentum.
Outside the chamber, the national picture grew heavier. Employers closed. Jobs contracted. Households faced a tightening squeeze. If ever there was a year that demanded clarity, it was this one. Instead, Namibia watched a legislature that defended its routines while retreating from its responsibilities.
The press release issued last week missed the point entirely. It leaned heavily on process, as if the public had misunderstood the nature of the problem. The public has not misunderstood anything. Parliament did not fail because the process is complex. It failed because its members treated the process as a shield. The country needed laws. It received explanations.
Responsibility does not rest with one faction. The majority lacks cohesion. The opposition lacks discipline. The Executive lacks direction. Together they produced a year defined not by conflict or crisis, but by something worse: absence.
Overall Comment (Performance Review):
Parliament delivered minimal output, showed weak cohesion and allowed internal disputes to obstruct its core responsibilities. Attendance faltered. Planning suffered. Commitment wavered. The employee has potential but did not demonstrate it during the review period.
Recommendation: Immediate corrective action. Continued appointment not advised without visible improvement.
* Briefly is a weekly column that is opinionated and analytical. It sifts through the noise to make sense of the numbers, trends and headlines shaping business and the economy with insight, wit and just enough scepticism to keep things interesting. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE NOT OUR OWN, we simply relay them as part of the conversation.
