Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia is still exporting diamonds uncut, uranium and lithium raw, and beef in bulk while importing finished products at a premium.
Walvis Bay, the country’s Atlantic gateway, remains underutilised as a hub of intra-African trade.
Even the much-celebrated green hydrogen projects are pitched more to Europe than to Africa.
These patterns expose a deeper problem: Namibia’s economy remains dependent on foreign markets rather than building strength at home and within Africa. This dependence is risky and unsustainable.
The collapse of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), following punitive tariffs on African exports imposed earlier by the Trump administration, should serve as a wake-up call.
If the rules of global trade can change overnight in Washington, what happens to economies still reliant on external goodwill? Namibia cannot afford to be caught off guard again.
PROMISES AND PITFALLS
For more than two decades, Agoa, first introduced by president Bill Clinton, offered duty-free access to United States markets.
But like much of Africa, Namibia never used it to scale up value-added industries.
The framework allowed commodities to flow, but it failed to build resilience. With Agoa gone, so too has the illusion that external concessions could sustain long-term growth.
The answer lies in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). With 1.4 billion people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$3 trillion, AfCFTA could be Namibia’s gateway to industrialisation and continental trade.
For beef, fish, refined minerals, renewable energy, and manufactured goods, Africa itself must become the market of first resort.
Walvis Bay could emerge as the Atlantic hub connecting Namibia to central and southern Africa. Green hydrogen could power African industries rather than being shipped abroad as a raw product.
But AfCFTA is moving far too slowly. Instead of breaking down barriers, governments are drowning it in bureaucracy and endless conferences. Customs remain fragmented, trade corridors underdeveloped, and national egos too often outweigh continental ambition.
The AfCFTA risks becoming a hollow slogan unless leaders act with urgency.
LEARNING FROM EUROPE
The contrast with Europe is striking. The European Union, despite its challenges, has built a deeply integrated economic bloc from the rubble of war.
Goods, services, capital, and people flow across its borders with minimal friction. Policies are standardized, decisions enforced, and institutions empowered to act.
Africa, by comparison, continues to crawl. Leaders talk endlessly about unity in public while quietly erecting new walls of protectionism, undermining the very integration they claim to champion.
Instead of reducing trade barriers, some governments are erecting new ones. Instead of empowering AfCFTA institutions to act, leaders are stuck in endless summits, grand speeches, and photo opportunities.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s administration must not wait for the African Union to remove its red tape. Namibia can lead by example.
Though her administration has ignited policies for beneficiation and mineral processing, much of it remains on paper. Walvis Bay must be transformed into a logistics and trade powerhouse for the Southern African Development Community and central Africa.
Renewable projects must anchor industrial parks that produce goods for African markets, not just supply Europe.
Agro-processing must feed the continent, securing food systems while diversifying Namibia’s economy. And most importantly, Namibia must invest in people – training engineers, information and communication technology (ICT) specialists, and entrepreneurs who can drive the industries AfCFTA promises to unleash.
Still, Namibia’s progress will be meaningless if the rest of Africa does not move in the same direction. The collapse of Agoa should be a wake-up call for the entire continent.
Africa cannot continue to build trade policy around external access. Real sovereignty will come only when value is created locally and the continent negotiates from a position of strength.
AfCFTA must therefore move from paper to power. It must stop being a slogan for speeches and become the engine of Africa’s survival. Every delay costs jobs, revenue, and bargaining power.
The continent holds critical minerals, fertile land, and one of the fastest-growing consumer markets on earth. These are bargaining chips, but only if they are used wisely.
The choice is clear: either Namibia and Africa seize this moment to build true economic independence, or remain trapped in dependency, waiting for handouts while opportunities vanish.
The world will not wait. History will not forgive delay.
– Elvis Mboya is the president of the Namibia-Kenya Chamber of Commerce and a journalist.
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