The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) is a department of the Government of Namibia. The ministry is responsible for regional governance (Regional Councils) and local governance (Local Authorities) and therewith plays an important role in the decentralisation process of the Namibian government.[1]
The ministry was established at Namibian independence in 1990 as Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing; The first minister was Libertina Amathila.[2] In 2000 it was renamed Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development (MRLGHRD), and it got its current[update] name in 2015. The urban and rural development minister is Erastus Uutoni.[3]