There was at least one positive development in regard to good governance
when Namibia became signatory to
the African Peer Review Mechanism
(APRM).
The APRM promotes transparent, accountable and participatory governance. It further presented governments
with an opportunity to open up the
policy-making process to non-state actors and citizens. It also encourages
countries to sign, ratify and implement
African and international codes and
standards that promote and strengthen
good governance.
While Namibia continued to maintain
a diverse, plural and relatively free and
independent media sector, state-owned
media, in particular the Namibian
Broadcasting Corporation’s (NBC) current affairs and news units, however,
have little freedom to broadcast information that was critical of government.
Self-censorship in the state-owned media sector remained a problem. Most
commercial radio stations avoided
covering current affairs and instead
provided news clips published by local
newspapers. Encouragingly, talk-radio is
thriving on NBC and community radio
stations. The voices of women and children however remained minimal. Radio
stations needed to find ways to encourage interaction by these groups.

These positive developments were however soured when at the ruling SWAPO
party’s congress in November, delegates
put forward a resolution for the establishment of a ministry of cybersecurity.
This was a huge cause of concern but
fortunately the resolution was not formally adopted. Considering the tone
of the two drafts of the ETC Bill, which
perpetuated censoring and surveillance,
one could expect a similar tone if such a
ministry was set up.
In conclusion, activists call on government to become an ally of civil society
and the media in building a strong and
vibrant democratic dispensation. The
weakening of these two sectors does not
bode well for Namibia’s democracy. If
government is committed to strengthening free expression and democracy
overall, it should work with civil society and media to weather the storm and
find new ways to ensure sustainability,
vibrancy and proficiency.
Very importantly, citizens should not
leave the task of civic action to civil society and the media only. Active engagement in social economic and political
matters is urgently needed. Freedom of
expression is seen to be increasingly under threat; and citizens should not wait
until it is too late.

The internet was profoundly and wonderfully expanding the free expression
environment in Namibia. In response to
that, the Namibia Internet Governance
Forum (NamIGF) and the Internet Society of Namibia (ISOC) were launched
towards the end of the year. These multistakeholder platforms aimed to engage
on internet related issues, building the
capacity of stakeholders, and contributing to policy development.

So This is Democracy? 2017

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