African Peer Review Mechanism: An independent preliminary assessment of Namibia

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African Peer Review Mechanism An independent
preliminary assessment of Namibia

• March, 2006

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OUTLINE

• Terms of Reference
• Democracy Good Political Governance
• Economic Governance and Management
• Corporate Governance
• Socio-economic Development
• Conclusion

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Terms of Reference

• To assess Namibias status against the four APRM
  focus areas
• To review Namibias adoption of policies,
  standards and practices identified by NEPAD.
• To provide necessary information to the Namibian
  government, that might encourage it to
  participate in the APRM initiative.

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Method

• A combination of desk study and interviews with
  relevant stakeholders or informed key people in
  respective sectors.
• It was common for interviewees not to want their
  opinions to be quoted or they were reluctant to
  offer it altogether in some cases.
• Use of evidence from existing reports

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Democracy Good Political Governance

• Main objective of the APRM
• The key to successful economic, corporate and
  socio-economic governance

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A Guaranteed Framework of Equal Citizen Rights

• Potential as a democratic state
• Held four democratic elections
• NSHR 2005 Report improvement in civil
  political rights
• Delay in decentralisation process

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Institutions of Representative Accountable
Government

• The Public Service Act Commission
• Transparency International Corruption Perception
  Index 4.1 in 2004 to 4.3 in 2005
• Anti-Corruption Commission

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A Vibrant Civil Society

• Women in decision making positions at political
  level 34.7
• Namibia MDG Report, 2004 only a third of higher
  level positions are held by women
• Gender Empowerment Measure 0.572 in 2004 to
  0.603 in 2005
• Child Status Bill and the Children Care and
  Protection Bill
• Orphans and Vulnerable Children Program
• Government efforts towards vulnerable groups
• 90 of persons with disability still unemployed

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ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

• Good Economic Governance includes transparency in
  Financial management
• Essential Prerequisite for promoting growth,
  reducing poverty and enhancing sustainable
  development

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Sound Macroeconomic Policies

• Inflation rate (11.3 in 2002 to 3.9 in 2004)
• Total debt to GDP ratio (31.6 in 2004)
• Agricultural (5.3 in 1999 to 4.6 in 2003).
  Manufacturing (10.4 in 1999 to 11.1 in 2003)
• Unemployment stands at over 30

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Sound Management of Public Finances

• medium-term fiscal framework (2001)
• Medium Term Expenditure Framework - 3-year
  rolling budget- revenue exp forecasting
• Budget debate
• Accessibility of budget documents

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Fighting Corruption and Money Laundering

• N 650 (2003) - N 11.1 mill.(2004)
• Know Your Customer Policy
• Financial Intelligence Bill

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Acceleration of Regional Integration

• SADC, SACU CMA
• Namibia is performing in line with SADC
  macroeconomic targets SADC inflation rate
  target for 2012 is set at 5

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

• Good corporate governance provides a level of
  disclosure and transparency regarding the conduct
  of corporations and their boards and directors

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Institutional Players

• Commercial enterprises Public Private Listed
  Corporations, State-owned enterprises
• Banks Microfinance institutions
• Non-Banking Financial Institutions

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Ensure that corporations act as good corporate
citizens

• Addresses the adherence to Labour obligations,
  social responsibility and matters relating to the
  environment
• Labour Act 15 of 2004
• Safe working environment NamDeb
• Corporate Social Responsibility projects NamDeb
  Social Fund Sanlam Education Training

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Adoption of codes of good business ethics

• Combating White Collar Crime through the banking
  Institutions Act
• The Medias involvement in exposing such crimes

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Accountability of corporations, directors and
officers

• Disclosure of Information Generally Accepted
  Accounting Practice
• BoN is trying to enforce information disclosure
  among banking institutions

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Socioeconomic Development

• Implies the continuous improvement in the
  well-being and standard of living of the people
• The Namibian government is committed to the above

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Self-Sustaining Development

• National Development Strategies NDPs, Poverty
  Reduction Strategy, Vision 2030
• Strategies formulated through a process of shared
  visions and national dialogue

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Accelerating Socio-economic Development

• Affirmative Action Policy
• Adoption of the Millennium Declaration in 2001
• Universal primary education 2006 target 95,
  92 enrolled in 2003
• Lack of reliable data on poverty makes it
  difficult to assess its progress

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Strengthening Policies, Delivery Mechanisms and
Outcomes in key Social Areas

• Budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Education
  continues to increase
• Campaigns against HIV/AIDS has increased
• National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS

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Affordable Access to Services for All

• Water and Sanitation Policy 1993
• Department of Rural Water Supply in the MAWF
• Exploration and Exploitation of energy sources in
  a sustainable way

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Broad-based participation in development by all
stakeholders

• The Agenda for Change allows CSOs to participate
  in development policy debates
• Civil Society Organisations involvement in
  formulation of National Budget encouraged

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Conclusion

• Namibia has adopted most of the standards and
  codes required by NEPAD
• Various Policies, regulations and institutions
  are in place to promote the goals of NEPAD
• Stable Political environment
• Favourable macroeconomic environment

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Challenges

• Ensuring broad-based economic growth while
  attempting to address historic inequalities
• Lack of adequate objective information to assess
  the impact of policies and frameworks
• Implementation of policies and programs

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Benefits of Acceding to APRM

• Positive assessment should Namibia accede to APRM
• Positive impact advertise Namibia to
  development partners and investors and assist
  government in strengthening the capacity to
  implement principles the country has subscribed
  to

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