Government of Namibia


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.
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. The legislation is centralised in the lower house, and regional in the upper house. 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:
  1. Office of the President
  2. Office of the Prime Minister
  3. Office of the Judiciary
there are 14 stand-alone ministries in Namibia, down from 19 in 2020.
  1. Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform
  2. Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs
  3. Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture
  4. * Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund
  5. * National Library and Archives service
  6. * Namibia Sports Commission
  7. Ministry of Environment and Tourism
  8. Ministry of Finance and Social Grants Management
  9. Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare
  10. Ministry of Health and Social Services
  11. Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security
  12. * Namibian Police Force
  13. * Namibian Correctional Services
  14. Ministry of International Relations and Trade
  15. Ministry of Information and Communication Technology
  16. Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations
  17. Ministry of Mines, Energy and Industry
  18. Ministry of Works and Transport
  19. * Namibia Civil Aviation Authority
  20. * Directorate of Aircraft Accident Investigations
  21. Ministry of Urban and Rural Development
The agencies of the central government are:

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

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.