Speaker of the National Assembly Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has called for accelerated, forward-looking law reform to regulate emerging industries, digital markets, and evolving trade frameworks.
She said this is essential to support innovation, attract investment, and keep Namibia competitive.
“Law reform has to keep pace with changing realities to ensure that laws are forward-looking by responding to the digital age, emerging industries, and evolving social dynamics,” Kuugongelwa-Amadhila told an event on constitutional evolution in Windhoek.
She said constitutional and institutional reforms are needed to strengthen parliamentary oversight, speed up law reform, and create a more inclusive economy.
“Parliamentary oversight, a cornerstone of constitutional accountability, can be strengthened through increased capacitation to ensure improved representation, legislating, and oversight,” she said.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila warned that gaps in Parliament’s technical capacity limit its ability to scrutinise budgets, assess policy impacts, and align legislation with development goals.
She said regulatory certainty and accountability would strengthen governance and build investor confidence.
She highlighted structural economic issues, including reliance on unprocessed mineral exports and skewed ownership of land and resources, which restrict industrialisation, job creation, and equity.
“Our exports are still dominated by unprocessed resources, limiting value addition, industrialisation, job creation, and public revenue. Ownership of land and natural resources remains skewed, undermining equity and shared prosperity,” she said.
She also pointed to poverty, inequality, and poor service delivery as barriers to growth, urging full decentralisation to empower local authorities.
“Our financial sector, though stable and profitable, does not serve all. Many in rural and informal economies remain excluded from affordable credit and banking services,” she said.
“We must recommit ourselves to constitutionalism, not just as a legal framework, but as a living covenant with our people. We must build a Namibia where freedom is matched by opportunity, where democracy is deepened through dialogue, and where progress includes even the most vulnerable,” Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said.
