Zaamwani-Kamwi urges Malawi to ratify Zamcom deal for shared water future

Minister of agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi has appealed to Malawi to ratify the Zambezi Watercourse Commission (Zamcom) agreement.

This in a bid to strengthen regional cooperation on shared water resources.

Zaamwani-Kamwi said this at the 12th Zamcom Council of Ministers meeting in Windhoek on Thursday.

She said there are substantial benefits to be gained from Malawi’s full participation in transboundary water governance, particularly in areas of joint infrastructure development, climate resilience and basin-wide information sharing.

“We remain hopeful that Malawi will soon join us fully at the table. We trust in the spirit of ‘leaving no one behind’,” she said.

Zaamwani-Kamwi said as member states mark 21 years of the agreement, the focus must now shift to implementation.

She urged ministers to act with urgency to translate plans into projects, especially those that address community-level needs, enhance food and water security, and build resilience to climate change.

“Let us accelerate action on our shared programmes to ensure no community is left behind. Let us apply ourselves fully to the annotated agenda before us, and move decisively towards a future where water becomes a unifying, rather than dividing force in our region,” the minister said.

She said no member state should undertake water resource development projects in isolation or without adequate consultation and consensus with fellow riparian states.

This, she said, is necessary to preserve the intended conditions and remedies. Member states should also identify opportunities for joint planning and development, fostering trust while maintaining the principle of prior notification and cooperative planning as the foundation of shared water governance.

“Equitable and reasonable utilisation, coupled with the obligation not to cause significant harm, must guide all our actions. We must therefore continue to advance a culture of mutual respect and equitable benefit sharing as we strive towards the Africa we want and our common future,” she said.

Zaamwani-Kamwi said transboundary cooperation is not optional, but essential – pointing out that all Namibia’s perennial rivers are shared, while its internal rivers are ephemeral.

The minister said the Zambezi River Basin, with its richness in water, land, forest, and biodiversity, remains vital to the livelihoods of Namibians, particularly in the north-eastern regions, as it supports agriculture, tourism and water supply, especially for rural communities.

As the driest country south of the Sahara, Namibia’s development trajectory is intricately tied to the reliable and cooperative management of transboundary water resources, she said.

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