Statement by H.E. Dr. Hage Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia

at the African Peer-Review Mechanism Forum of Heads of State and Government

28 January 2017

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Your Excellency Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya and Chairperson of the APRM Forum,

Your Excellency, Mr. Idris Itno Deby, Chairperson of the African Union,

Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,

Your Excellency, Dr. Nkosazana-Ndlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission,

Mr. Eddy Maloka, CEO of the APRM Secretariat,

Distinguished Members of the APRM Panel of Eminent Persons,

Members of the APRM Secretariat,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Namibia is honoured to have acceded to the African Peer Review Mechanism. We believe this Mechanism, geared towards fostering the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development, and accelerated economic integration, will play a pivotal role in enabling Africa to achieve the noble Aspirations and Developmental Goals of Agenda 2063 and its First-Ten Year Implementation Plan.

Mechanisms such as the APRM provide us with an opportunity to introspectively interrogate our processes, systems and institutions in order to identify shortcomings, while at the same time identifying our strengths. With many of our Governments having adopted a number of policies and ratified countless instruments, it is only through the implementation of the APRM that we will achieve tangible far-reaching results. The voluntary nature of the APRM allows Member States to openly and realistically evaluate and monitor developmental progress in a friendly Peer-Peer atmosphere.

As many of you may be aware, Namibia has always supported the APRM since its inception, however, during that time, Namibia and Botswana were considered worldwide as good examples of democracy in Africa and we therefore decided to abstain from joining the APRM as we did not want to be used as a point of reference to be used against our fellow African countries.

Your Excellencies,

The Vision of our Union, “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena”, can only be achieved if we are united and pull in the same direction in the spirit of HARAMBEE. The prosperity of our respective nations, is the prosperity of the whole Continent. Therefore, what we want to achieve are positive effects and results stemming from our sound governance structures, policies and programmes that are aimed at eradicating poverty, achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth, geared towards raising the standard of living for all our peoples.

Let me say that from a personal standpoint, there is a sense of delight for joining the APRM, given the fact that I had been involved together with President Thabo Mbeki and Professors Wiseman Nkuhlu and Adebayo Adedeji, at the intial stages of this process. It is therefore a pleasure for me to announce that the Republic of Namibia has voluntarily decided to unconditionally accede to the APRM.

I thank you.