Patience Makwele
National Assembly Speaker Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has warned African countries that signing and ratifying continental agreements will mean little without concrete action to implement them, saying “ratification is the beginning of an obligation”.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila made the remarks on Friday at the book launch of the Constitutionalism, Sustainable Economic Development and the African Continental Free Trade Area: Prospects and Challenges for Africa in the 21st Century in Windhoek.
She said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) should not be viewed as a solution in itself, but as an instrument whose success depends on whether member states honour the commitments they have made.
“The African Continental Free Trade Area is not a solution in itself. It is an instrument and its value will be determined by the willingness of the state party to implement their obligations faithfully,” she said.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said Africa’s development challenges often stem not from a lack of laws or agreements, but from the gap between what those instruments provide and what happens in practice.
“Constitutions do not implement themselves. Treaties do not implement themselves,” she said.
She said Namibia, as a state party to the AfCFTA Agreement, had entered into these commitments itself and should therefore recognise the responsibility that comes with them.
The speaker also raised concerns about the continent’s infrastructure integration, saying it remains below the level required for a functioning single market.
She pointed to the protocol on the free movement of persons, which she said has been signed by a majority of member states but ratified by only a handful.
She said the contradiction was particularly evident when Africans were not welcomed in other African countries at a time when the continent was trying to build a market dependent on the movement of people.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila further warned that increased trade volumes alone would not constitute success if women, young people and the informal sector remained excluded from the benefits of AfCFTA.
“Inclusion is not a supplementary objective of the Agreement. It is written into its terms,” she said.
Konrad Adenauer Foundation Namibia and Angola director Anna Hoffmann-Kwanga said the publication was the outcome of an intellectual journey that began with a 2022 conference bringing together legal scholars, economists, policymakers, judges, practitioners and researchers from across Africa.
She said the 2022 discussions examined how constitutional principles could support inclusive growth, strengthen institutions, promote accountability, protect rights and create the legal certainty necessary for economic development and cross-border trade.
She added that AfCFTA’s success should ultimately be measured by its ability to improve the lives of citizens through greater economic opportunities, poverty reduction, innovation and shared prosperity.
Tapiwa Warikandwa, a University of Botswana senior lecturer and one of the book’s editors, said constitutionalism must be linked to sustainable economic development and the continent’s ability to benefit from its own resources.
He said Africa must move away from exporting raw materials and commodities towards local manufacturing and industrialisation.
“True constitutional stability relies on moving away from exporting raw materials or commodities, and towards localized manufacturing and industrialization,” Warikandwa said.
He argued that Africa’s abundant natural resources have not translated sufficiently into benefits for ordinary citizens, with much of the value generated from those resources flowing outside the continent.
Warikandwa said stronger intra-African trade, beneficiation and industrialisation could help retain more of the economic value generated on the continent.
He said the publication examines issues including resource governance, financial sustainability, poverty, socio-economic rights, foreign investment, infrastructure, sovereign debt, small and medium enterprises, democracy and AfCFTA.
Kennedy Kariseb, an associate dean at the University of Namibia (UNAM) and co-editor of the publication, said the project deliberately sought to move beyond a purely legal discussion by bringing together experts from different disciplines.
He said the 2022 conference received 62 abstracts, with about 34 to 35 papers selected for presentation before selected contributions underwent peer review for publication.
Kariseb said the publication was intended to ensure that ideas generated at the conference reached policymakers and the wider public.
“It is one thing to have people who have thoughts and ideas at a conference, and for those ideas to die at that particular conference,” he said.
He urged citizens not to leave economic development entirely to the state, saying laws and policies directly affect their livelihoods.
“Livelihoods are affected by what laws and policies say,” Kariseb said.
The publication emerged from a 2022 conference convened in Windhoek by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the University of Namibia and the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers.
