Reflections on the economic legacy of his excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob

 

 

 

By Josef Kefas Sheehama

 

Today, Namibia mourns the loss of one of its most influential leaders. His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob, Namibia’s 3rd president, 04 February 2024 at the age of 82.

It is fair that we revisit His Excellency Dr. Hage G Geingob role in the economic governance of Namibia, particularly, some of the economic policies and programmes that laid the foundation for the country’s economic growth.

Although some of the critics and economic analysts, over the years, have downplayed the impact of those policies on the overall development of the country, it is impossible to ignore their far-reaching impact on the ordinary Namibians.

This included economic recovery programmes, poverty reduction strategies, and institutional structures for reducing poverty, poverty monitoring and indicators.

President Geingob leveraged on his personal qualities and principles of integrity, accountability and service to champion the implementation of those economic reforms. His economic strategy has been the identification of poverty reduction as an overarching objective of ensuring macroeconomic stability, which is crucial for ensuring sustainable economic growth.

Therefore, it is worthy to note that the economic policies and reforms rolled out by the President Saw progress in poverty reduction and employment creation.

Under the leadership of His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob Namibia unveiled an Economic Recovery Programme aimed at reversing a protracted period of serious economic decline characterized by COVID 19, high inflation rates, high unemployment and geopolitics.

Upon his commencement of his presidency, the president presented a body framework that aims at guiding his leadership towards prosperity.

This development map is called Harambee Prosperity Plans (HPP 1 and II). These plans have adopted to accelerate implementation and impact of the aforementioned plans and strategies.

It was the President Hage Geingob who appointed an 11-member Business Rescue Task Force to review business and insolvency legislation with the aim of rescuing businesses in financial distress.

Furthermore, Namibia is fast becoming a frontrunner in the green hydrogen race which was under the leadership of president Geingob.

It will help the government in their key role to make strategic decisions about investing in projects that strengthen the local green transition. In that way it contributes to the development of the country in terms of economic growth, creation of jobs and local use of green hydrogen.

His Excellency, Dr. Hage Gottfried Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia, thank you for promoting our country. You tackled the looming crisis of climate change and degradation of our environment. You are a great man with integrity, values and abilities our country needs. You will always in our hearts His Excellency.

My fellow citizens there are a lot of things that divide us, but one thing that unites us, or should unite us, is that we want to see our country succeed in a green hydrogen economy.

We want it to stay great and become even better. It is clear that there is an ideological and political impetus for establishing hydrogen as a key component of the energy mix as part of the movement towards a carbon neutral environment.

Therefore, Green hydrogen can play a significant role in these efforts, replacing carbon-intensive fuels across the economy and leading to substantial emission reductions.

Moreover, president Geingob shapes the future of Namibia by focusing on the advancement of the economy, as well as focuses on the importance of the economy in the fight against poverty.

The president was a frontrunner to address macro-economic stability, economic Transformation, SME Development and economic competitiveness.

Additionally, under the leadership we have witnessed oil discoveries in Namibia which will bring in an equivalent of N$ 53 billion in revenues for the state, a prominent global consultancy group has estimated.

This discovery will significantly improve energy security in a nation that relies heavily on petroleum imports. The development of a consistent domestic energy supply will prove critical for the economy while reducing imports from neighboring countries.

Notably, the creation of a domestic petroleum market will create thousands of jobs for the local population across every industry in the value chain while motivating the creation and establishment of various domestic companies.

Furthermore, we have witnessed the Bank of Namibia and the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises relaunched the SME Economic Recovery Loan Scheme on 02 February 2023 with a share capital of N$500 million.

The relaunched SME Economic Recovery Loan Scheme is a revamp of the earlier loan scheme and is designed to provide small and medium-sized businesses access to government-guaranteed loans to help their businesses recover from the impact of COVID-19.

For the SMEs that survived. SMEs provide some form of employment and income to 160,000 people, representing approximately one-third of the nation’s workforce. In terms of full-time employment, this sector currently employs about 60,000 people. These consensus building

efforts led to the economic transformation that rolled out pragmatic policy measures for accelerated economic growth within the framework of Namibia-Vision 2030.

His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob, declared that the era of exporting raw materials from Namibia is over. This move aimed to boost the value of the exports.

It is an excellent opportunity for the domestic market to grow and this will address unemployment in the country. His Excellency makes a very remarkable economic statement by encouraging economic partnership, grounded in the common interests of forging a more equitable and sustainable world, and seeks to deepen cooperation and broaden areas of mutual collaboration to construct sustainable industrial clusters for both Namibia and the international community.

Above all, Namibia fairly increase in gross domestic product (GDP), which shows that the country is able to make a dent in the economic difficulties it faces.

In conclusion, as I reflected on the Economic Legacy of His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob, I am reminded of the immense responsibility we bear to honor his vision and carry his work forward, particularly the Green Hydrogen.

Together, we can build Namibia that honors president Geingob’s economic legacy and paves the way for a brighter and more inclusive future. “No Namibian should feel left out”

May You Rest In Peace, His Excellency, Dr. Hage Gottfried Geingob, and President of the Republic of Namibia. You will always be remembered. Your legacy will forever be etched in our minds and hearts.