Inna Koviao Hengari (born 2 February 1996) is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician, student leader and youth activist. A member of the

Popular Democratic Movement The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...

, she became a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

on 20 March 2020, the youngest since

McHenry Venaani McHenry Venaani (born 8 September 1977) is a Namibian politician and the president of the Popular Democratic Movement, a party with sixteen seats in the National Assembly of Namibia and one seat in the National Council of Namibia. Venaani has be ...

in 2004. Previously she served as Vice President of the

UNAM SRC University of Namibia Student Representative Council (also known as the UNAM SRC) was founded on 20 February 1992, and is recognised as the legal representative body for the students of the University of Namibia by the University of Namibia Act 1 ...

and the

Students Union of Namibia The Students Union of Namibia (SUN) is a students organisation in Namibia. It was formed in 2019 by a break-away faction of the Namibia National Students Organization (NANSO). In 2019 NANSO members were involved in ideological differences over w ...

Early life and student activism

Hengari was born in 1996 in central Namibia. Raised by a single parent, she attended primary in

Okahandja Okahandja is a city of 24,100 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the ''Garden Town of Namibia''. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the ...

and high school in

Otjiwarongo Otjiwarongo ( hz, beautiful place) is a city of 28,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital of Otjozondjupa. Otjiwarongo is situated in cen ...

. In 2015, she joined the

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, as well as the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the follow ...

where she read

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. While at the University, she began writing political columns and reviews alongside Joseph Kalimbwe in the

Namibian Sun The ''Namibian Sun'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Namibia. It was launched on 20 September 2007 as a weekly tabloid newspaper published on Thursdays. The initial print run was planned to be 36,000 copies. The paper publishes mostly in English w ...

's 'Astute Conversation' initiated by their lecturer

Job Amupanda Job Shipululo Amupanda (born 28 August 1987 in Omaalala, Oshana Region) is a Namibian activist and politician who served as Mayor of the City of Windhoek, in office from 2 December 2020 to 1 December 2021. He is an academic at the University of N ...

In 2016, she become politically active in student politics at the University, becoming elected in student issues as Housing Committee Member before being elected as Vice President of the UNAM SRC. In 2018, Hengari joined the

where she was later appointed as Deputy president. She has credited

and Amupanda as her forthright mentors. Joseph Kalimbwe and Inna Hengari

Politics

After graduating the University of Namibia in 2019, Hengari joined the Popular Democratic Movement as it parliamentary researcher. That same year, she was put on the party's parliamentary list and was later elected to parliament after the party won 16 seats in the 7th Parliament. Hengari called on the Parliament to resolve that the President,

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 ...

, declares a state of emergency on youth unemployment and a discussion by parliamentarians to agree on long-term and short-term interventions in addressing the unemployment crisis in

. Commenting on Human rights, Hengari stressed the need to do advocacy and awareness campaigns to impart knowledge on the rights of every individual, and called on Namibians to read the constitution, and not only wait for activists to fight for their rights.

Personal life

Hengari graduated in 2019 with UNAM where she was doing political science, Hengari was raised by a single parent who passed on suddenly just a few months before her election to Parliament.

References

Living people 1996 births 21st-century Namibian politicians 21st-century Namibian women politicians Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Women members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Popular Democratic Movement politicians University of Namibia alumni Politicians from Windhoek {{Namibia-politician-stub