Africa-Press – Namibia. STATE House asserts that president Hage Geingob’s frequent travelling is in the best interest of the country, as his globe-trotting is about searching for investments and facilitating development.
SOME of GEINGOB’S recent destinations
• Brest, France (One Ocean Summit – departed on 10 February for two-day visit)
• Brussels (AU-EU summit – 16 February until 20 February)
• Qatar (27 February to 2 March)
• Zambia, Lusaka (Rupiah Banda’s funeral – 18 March)
• United Arab Emirates, Dubai Expo (22 March to 27 March)
• Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire – UN Convention to Combat Desertification Conférence (8 May to 9 May)
• Davos, Switzerland (22 to 26 May)
• Qatar (Qatar Economic Forum – 19 June to 22 June)
• Kigali, Rwanda (26th Commonwealth heads of government – 23 to 25 June)
• Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
However, some political and economic analysts believe the president must stay at home to deal with the burning issues the country faces.
Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari yesterday released an opinion piece in which he defended his boss’s travelling, and accused journalists of casting aspersions and ‘failing’ to understand the importance of the president’s international engagements.
“Namibia is not an island. Therefore, our socio-economic development and prosperity as a country depend on the strength of our political and economic partnerships.
“The strength of these partnerships is of benefit to all Namibian citizens, including journalists who are also beneficiaries of the development that accrues from the robust diplomatic engagements of the president,” Hengari said.
This year alone, Geingob has travelled to the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Qatar, Ethiopia and Rwanda, among others.
The president paused international trips in 2020 for some time and also advised his Cabinet ministers to refrain from fruitless trips.
Reduced travel continued during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in air travel bans globally.
Between 2015 and 2016, The Namibian reported that Geingob travelled to 47 countries – 19 in 2015, 12 in 2016 and 16 in 2018.
“Similarly, when the Namibian president is delivering a statement at the annual September meetings of the United Nation’s General Assembly in New York, our head of state is in the company of over 100 heads of state and government,” Hengari said.
Geingob considers all official multilateral or bilateral invitations carefully in terms of the national interest and what Namibians stand to gain, he said.
Hengari maintains that the president declines many invitations or delegates them to other key officials.
However, Hengari said there are key multilateral or bilateral platforms where Namibia’s participation is needed to advance its developmental agenda.
These present tangible benefits for the country, such as nine proposals from six developers to build a US$10 billion green hydrogen and ammonia facility in the //Kharas region.
The government also received a 40 million euro grant from the German government to build green hydrogen pilot projects, to fund the national synthetic fuels strategy and to launch a green hydrogen scholarship programme in Namibia.
Hengari said the Netherlands, through the Port of Rotterdam, signed a cooperation agreement with Namibia, with an emphasis on port development.
“A package of €250 000 was pledged from the Dutch to assist Namport with the relevant port master plan studies,” Hengari noted.
Mines and energy minister Tom Alweendo also entered into a joint declaration of intent with the German minister of economic affairs and climate change, to enable the production and trade of green molecules in Namibia with Germany. Hengari said after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the government received an “unsolicited” offer to enter into a joint venture agreement to create a continental manufacturing hub for green hydrogen and its related equipment and wares in Namibia.
“The Ministry of Mines and Energy has been tasked to review the viability of this strategic offer,” said Hengari.
The Qatar Investment Authority expressed interest in investing in Namibia’s transport and logistics related infrastructure, tourism enterprises and the agricultural sector.
The Qatar Investment Authority-backed Kasada Capital Management also recently acquired the Safari Hotel and Conference Centre, and a Japanese consortium has shown interest in developing green hydrogen assets in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park, Hengari said.
“Through its participation in various multilateral fora, the government of Namibia is currently crafting a special memorandum of understanding with the European Union Commission to collaborate on green hydrogen and critical raw materials, with an emphasis on value addition on these key components of a just energy transition taking place in Namibia. The agreement is expected to be signed at COP27 in Egypt,” Hengari said.
ANALYSTS
Economist Omu Kakujaha-Matundu said the real concern is who pays for Geingob’s trips. If it is the taxpayers, then it is the most wasteful exercise of the Geingob administration.
This indicates Geingob’s administration cannot be trusted, he said.
“We haven’t seen any fruits from those travels, so one can’t expect much out of these trips. After calling for a travel moratorium to cut back wasteful spending, the president became the traveller-in-chief,” he said.
Kakujaha-Matundu said the president could make better use of the money spent on travelling.
“Investors will come if they smell profits. If you can use technology to serve the same purpose, why travel all over the place? These investor feet-licking practices should stop,” he stressed.
Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanya said Namibia should not expect to see immediate results because the nature of investment is complex.
He said investors work on their own calendar, they decide in terms of which countries to invest in and when to invest.
“They do not necessarily operate on the calendar of the host country inviting them. We also know for Namibia to see fruits, it depends on factors such as whether the market size is big enough for investors to yield profits.”
Political analyst Hoze Riruako agrees with Kamwanya that it is too early to see the benefits of the president’s international trips.
He said when marketing the country, it takes time for investors to make the decision to invest, because they still need to digest the information given to them about a country.
As a result, Riruako said Geingob’s trips can be viewed as showcasing the country and the potential it has to offer, such as the recent oil discoveries, the energy sector and other sectors that have the potential to grow.
“We as Namibians know that if we are to remain idle and not tell the world about our potential, we might not be able to address being an export driven economy. It’s high time we localise our economy,” he said.
Former Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda claimed earlier this week that “the country is on autopilot” – an alleged jab at Geingob’s frequent travelling.
“It is heartbreaking and horrible, we are a country on its knees with no direction. The country is on autopilot,” Amupanda said while commenting on videos he shot of the deplorable conditions at the Katutura Intermediate Hospital.
“It’s a horrible state of affairs. We once had a country. We are now left with a shadow of a country, a travesty of justice and a betrayal of the promise of liberation!” Amupanda added.
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