Young lawmakers challenged to find answers to Namibia’s water crisis

Identify the gaps
The Prime Minister urged young lawmakers to go beyond debating challenges and scrutinise whether government commitments are reaching children and communities.
Desmarius Hansen
  • 1 Day Ago

Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare has challenged Namibia’s young lawmakers to scrutinise the country’s water, sanitation and hygiene commitments, identify gaps in implementation and propose solutions to ensure every child has access to basic services.

Addressing the opening of the first session of the fourth Junior National Council in Windhoek on Monday, Ngurare said the young lawmakers’ responsibility was not simply to debate the country’s challenges, but to question whether policies and laws were being implemented effectively.

“Is it being fully implemented? Where are the lapses? Identify grey areas and come up with solutions,” he told the Junior National Council members.

The 2026 Junior National Council comprises learners from Grades 8 to 11 representing all 14 regions. It deliberated under the theme: “Towards Universal Access to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for Every Namibian Child.”

Ngurare said the theme should be viewed as more than a discussion about infrastructure such as pipes, boreholes, reservoirs and toilets, describing access to water and sanitation as issues of human dignity, equality and national development.

“Access to safe drinking water is recognised as a fundamental human right in Namibia. It is a basic human right, not a privilege for a few,” he said.

He said Namibia’s constitutional framework supports access to water through Article 6, which deals with the protection of life, and Article 95, which provides for the promotion of the welfare of the people.

Ngurare also referred to the Water Resources Management Act of 2013, which replaced the Water Act of 1956. He said the legislation gives the responsible minister powers to ensure citizens have access to safe drinking water sufficient for health, life and productive activities.

However, he acknowledged that legislation and government commitments had not eliminated Namibia’s water and sanitation challenges. “Since Independence, we have made significant progress in expanding public services and improving the lives of our people. But responsible leadership requires us to acknowledge that important gaps remain,” he said.

Ngurare pointed to communities where reliable access to safe water remains difficult, as well as schools and households where sanitation infrastructure is inadequate. He said distance, drought, infrastructure constraints and population growth continued to put pressure on water resources.

For a country already facing water scarcity, he said, climate variability was increasingly testing the resilience of communities.

Ngurare challenged the young lawmakers to look beyond simply expanding infrastructure and consider both immediate needs and long-term water security. “How do we provide water today?” he asked, before adding: “How do we secure water for tomorrow?”

He urged them not to view water and sanitation challenges as problems for someone else to solve. “Our country needs young people who do not only identify what is wrong, but who are prepared to help imagine what can be done differently,” he said.

The participation of young lawmakers from all 14 regions, Ngurare said, was important because water challenges differ across the country.

He noted that the challenges in //Kharas may differ from those in Zambezi, while the realities of Kunene may be different from those in Ohangwena. Young people in Kavango West, Erongo, Kavango East, Omaheke and Khomas may also experience different challenges.

Despite these differences, he said, they form part of a single national picture.

“Our national solutions must be informed by the diversity of our national experience,” he said.

Government has committed to expanding water-supply infrastructure in urban, peri-urban and rural communities, increasing sanitation coverage, improving coordination in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, promoting hygiene and keeping water affordable for poor and vulnerable households.

Ngurare said the challenge was now to ensure those commitments were translated into tangible improvements.

He urged the Junior National Council to use its deliberations to ask difficult questions, challenge one another and propose practical solutions.

“The future is not a distant destination that will one day be handed to you. The future of Namibia is being shaped by the choices we make today, and you already have a place in shaping it,” he said.

Ngurare also encouraged the young lawmakers to return to their schools after the session and continue with their education, urging them to study hard and pursue further opportunities at universities in Namibia, Africa and elsewhere in the world.