EDITORAL: Ignoring the attorney general at will
Namibia has grown disturbingly comfortable with ignoring the legal opinions of its own attorney general. What should be the final word on matters of state legal matters has been reduced to background noise – acknowledged, then quickly discarded. Soliciting legal advice from the country’s chief legal adviser now feels like a ceremonial gesture, rather than a serious tool for governance.
The attorney general isn’t a political appointee meant to rubber-stamp convenience. He is the state’s legal compass – appointed to interpret the law and ensure the actions of government remain within legal bounds. To disregard his counsel is not just an internal disagreement; it is a dismissal of the rule of law itself.
Take the Meatco CEO saga. The attorney general offered a clear and legally sound path forward regarding the CEO contract situation at the entity, but Cabinet, at the whims of a few, chose a different route entirely – one paved not by legality, but clearly by expediency.
The problem didn’t start there. In 2021, the same office advised the ministry of urban and rural development on how to handle the rising trend of local councillors living and working far outside the jurisdictions they were elected to serve. The law, the attorney general noted, was “absolute” and not flexible to the mood of the day. Yet today, Omuthiya has a councillor holding down a full-time job in Windhoek, flouting that very advice with impunity.
If legal advice from the highest legal authority in the land is routinely ignored, what message does this send to the rest of society? If the attorney general’s office and guidance carry no weight, perhaps we should be honest with ourselves and shut down that entity entirely.
The attorney general isn’t a political appointee meant to rubber-stamp convenience. He is the state’s legal compass – appointed to interpret the law and ensure the actions of government remain within legal bounds. To disregard his counsel is not just an internal disagreement; it is a dismissal of the rule of law itself.
Take the Meatco CEO saga. The attorney general offered a clear and legally sound path forward regarding the CEO contract situation at the entity, but Cabinet, at the whims of a few, chose a different route entirely – one paved not by legality, but clearly by expediency.
The problem didn’t start there. In 2021, the same office advised the ministry of urban and rural development on how to handle the rising trend of local councillors living and working far outside the jurisdictions they were elected to serve. The law, the attorney general noted, was “absolute” and not flexible to the mood of the day. Yet today, Omuthiya has a councillor holding down a full-time job in Windhoek, flouting that very advice with impunity.
If legal advice from the highest legal authority in the land is routinely ignored, what message does this send to the rest of society? If the attorney general’s office and guidance carry no weight, perhaps we should be honest with ourselves and shut down that entity entirely.
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