Government of Namibia

Politics of Namibia


Constitution Constituent Assembly
Executive President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah Vice President Lucia Witbooi Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare Cabinet
Legislature National Council Chairman: Lukas Sinimbo Muha National Assembly Speaker: Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila
Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice: Peter Shivute High Court Judge President: Petrus Damaseb
Administrative divisions Regions Constituencies
Elections Recent elections General: 2014 2019 2024 Regional: 2010 2015 2020 Political parties
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Peya Mushelenga Diplomatic missions of / in Namibia Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
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The government of Namibia consists of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary branches. The Cabinet is the executive organ of government, implementing the laws of the country. It consists of the president, the prime minister and his deputy, as well as the ministers of the Cabinet of Namibia. The legislative organs of government are the National Council and the National Assembly. They make the laws of the country. The judiciary organs of government are the courts. The highest court of Namibia is the Supreme Court. There are also the high courts and lower courts.^[1]

The Namibian government is partly centralised and partly regional. In the executive branch, central government consists of ministries, offices and agencies, whereas regional government consists of regional councils, and constituencies within these.^[1] The legislation is centralised in the lower house (National Assembly), and regional in the upper house (National Council).^[2] The judiciary is centralised in the Supreme Court, whereas high courts and lower courts are distributed all over the country.

Executive branch of government

The central executive branch of government consists of offices, ministries, and agencies. The offices of central government are:^[3]

As of 2025^[update] there are 14 stand-alone ministries in Namibia,^[4] down from 19 in 2020.^[3]

Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR)
Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs (MoDVA)
Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture (MoE)
- Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF)
- National Library and Archives service (NLAS)
- Namibia Sports Commission
Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET)
Ministry of Finance and Social Grants Management (MoF)
Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW)
Ministry of Health and Social Services (MHSS)
Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security (MHAISS)
- Namibian Police Force
- Namibian Correctional Services
Ministry of International Relations and Trade (MIRT)
Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT)
- Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN)
Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations (MoJ)
Ministry of Mines, Energy and Industry (MEI)
Ministry of Works and Transport (MoW)
- Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
- Directorate of Aircraft Accident Investigations (DAAI)
Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD)

The agencies of the central government are:^[3]

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)
Electoral Commission (EC)
Central Intelligence Service (NCIS)
National Planning Commission (NPC)
- Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA)
Office of the Attorney General (OAG)
Office of the Auditor-General (OAG)
Office of the Ombudsman
Public Service Commission of Namibia (PSC)

Government organisations and state-owned enterprises

The Namibian state runs and owns a number of companies such as Transnamib and NamPost, most of which need frequent financial assistance to stay afloat.^[5]^[6]

There is a number of agencies and authorities established by acts of Parliament that can be considered government organisations:

Council of Traditional Leaders
Development Bank of Namibia
Law Reform and Development Commission (LRDC), responsible for researching recommended law changes to the Ministry of Justice.
Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA). This institution evaluates and accredits national institutions and degrees, as well as foreign qualifications of people who wish to demonstrate the national equivalence of their degrees earned abroad.^[7]
Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), the regulatory and marketing body for tourism activities in Namibia, and is headquartered in Windhoek, Namibia.^[8]^[9]

Traditional leadership

Alongside ordinary governance, Namibia also has a parallel system of traditional leadership. Only people of tribes recognised by the state, living in their traditional areas, are subject to this type of government which covers land allocation, traditional marriage, and lower courts. There are 51 recognised traditional authorities and a further 40 pending applications.^[10]

References

1 2 "About the Government of the Republic of Namibia". grnnet.gov.na. Retrieved 29 September 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
↑ "GRN Structure". Government of Namibia. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
1 2 3 "Government of Namibia". Office of the Prime Minister. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
↑ Shikololo, Aletta (24 March 2025). "NNN ushers Namibia into new era". New Era.
↑ "Government income from SOEs 2013/2014-2015-2016". Insight Namibia. April 2013. p. 21.
↑ "Payments and transfers to SOEs 2013/2014-2015-2016". Insight Namibia. April 2013. p. 22.
↑ "History of the NQA". Namibia Qualifications Authority. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
↑ "Namibia Tourism Board (a) Introduction". BusinessDirectory.na. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
↑ "Namibia Tourism Board". namibia-1on1.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
↑ Tjitemisa, Kuzeeko (18 November 2016). "Chiefs Cost Govt Millions". New Era. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2021.