Hans Erik Staby

Who was Hans Erik Staby?

Hans Erik Staby was a Namibian politician and one of the country's leading architects. A German Namibian, Staby was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from the Constituent Assembly prior to independence in 1989 until resignation in 1997 with the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. Staby died on 30 November 2009 at his home in Windhoek.

He was elected to the White Legislative Assembly in 1980 as a member of the Republican Party, which was then part of the DTA. He served in newly independent Namibia's Constituent Assembly in 1990 and was the DTA spokesperson on trade and finance in the NA from 1990 to 1997. In November 2003 he joined Action for Democratic Change – a group of former RP members who decided to stay with the DTA rather than join the breakaway led by Henk Mudge.

Described as a "true Namibian" by the executive director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Henning Melber, Staby worked tirelessly for the promotion of democracy and human rights in Namibia.

Staby was the Chairperson of the Namibia Institute for Democracy and of the Namibian-German Foundation. He was also a member of the Namibian branch of the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International.