I used to keep Nigeria’s $1m grant to Namibia – President Pohamba
Do you consider yourself as Namibia’s Nelson Mandela or another Sam Nujoma? From the trenches in the liberation struggle between 1960s and 1980s, you have survived to become a President of Namibia. How does it feel passing through this struggle and seeing yourself as the political leader of this country? See me as Sam […]
Do you consider yourself as Namibia’s Nelson Mandela or another Sam Nujoma? From the trenches in the liberation struggle between 1960s and 1980s, you have survived to become a President of Namibia. How does it feel passing through this struggle and seeing yourself as the political leader of this country?
See me as Sam Nujoma instead of Nelson Mandela. In South Africa we see that in Mandela, but in Namibia we see ourselves under the leadership of Sam Nujoma. I feel happy that the people of this country have the confidence in me and elected me to succeed Sam Nujoma, who is the founding president of our country, and with the assistance they have given me as president, I feel that things have gone well. First, we, Namibians, realise that the most important thing is peace and stability in our country. If you have the two, then you can easily lead the country for the socio-economic development and interest of the citizens.
On becoming president, what were those burdens on your mind; the things you had passion for, as you attempted to bring about changes to the people of your country?
We have a system which is very much anchored on the party that fought for many years to liberate the country. We belong to that party and within the party we have set for ourselves, in the administration of the country, the goals that should be achieved. When Sam Nujoma left, he left with some completed programmes that we set, and some uncompleted at the time. When I took over, obviously, I had to follow the line to make sure that the programmes left uncompleted are completed. Again, ours is not a one person show; ours is a party, the party designs what should be done, and we set the goals for the Vision 2030, which we feel that when we get there, Namibia should have moved from the level where we are to a level of a really developing country where people can do things for themselves; a country which can sustain itself. For example, in running the country, we, at that time, educated the people who are assisting to run this country today. Currently, we are running the country with the assistance of other countries. We thank Nigeria. We have some Nigerians here who have been assisting us. At the time, by 2030, we would wish to have a lot to be done by Namibians themselves. It is a programme that has been set by SWAPO, the ruling party that we follow. Whatever we do is determined by the party. We have, for example, now a programme of five-year development plan. All these things we are doing are aimed at achieving our goal in 2030.
Specifically, what are these plans that you have and how are you achieving them? I’m asking this because I know some countries whose plans are just there on sheets of paper, never implemented over the years?
Like I said, we have a programme we have set for ourselves, and that is the five-year plan. In this period, we will do A, B, C, D To Z. And we have been doing that for the last 15 years. We are now preparing for development plan Number Four. We have already done from 1 to 3. So far, experience has it that we have succeeded with the implementation of these plans, maybe not 100 per cent, but we’ve tried up to maybe, 80 to 90 per cent.
Like tackling unemployment or upgrading the skills of nurses, teachers, and things like that?
Yes. When I came to power, there was no university here. And when we talk about development, it must be done by your people, those people must be skilled. We established the university two years after independence. That university started in the last five or 10 years producing graduates in different fields. That is one of the programmes we set for ourselves and we think we are going this year to produce many doctors, engineers, etc. Before, it was difficult. Because our university did not have all the faculties, it was very difficult to develop the university. Now, we have many faculties and we will continue to do that. Then, we looked at our rural areas. When we talk of development, we don’t talk development to the people by helicopters; we have to create roads to reach the people in the rural areas, and we have been doing that ever since and I think we have done very well. We have more other things that we set for ourselves and completed.
What memories do you have about Nigeria during your liberation struggle?
It is a wonderful memory. I happened to be one of the people who were in the leadership of the party and I was in charge of the money we used to get. Nigeria played a wonderful role in the liberation of Southern Africa, not only Namibia. Say, for example, we used to have an annual budget of US $1 million for the people of Namibia from Nigeria. Yes, it was big money. Every year we got our one million US dollars from Nigeria and with that money, we went to buy guns. We didn’t, of course, tell the Nigerians that we were using it to buy guns, and part of it was used to buy food for the liberation fighters. Therefore, Nigeria, great as it is in size and population, made great contributions to bring about Namibian independence. Let me talk about Southern Africa. Nigeria was a member of the Frontline States. Far away as it was, it became a Frontline State because of the determination to see to it that Southern Africa was liberated. We feel that we have brothers and sisters in that part of the continent.
Having said that, how would you assess your county’s current relations with Nigeria? Are you satisfied with it?
Very, very good, very, very good. When we got our Independence Nigeria was one of the first countries that we established diplomatic relations with in Africa. The relationship has never changed. As a fact, it has been improving. For example, we have had problems here, the floods, we informed the world that Namibia is under water. We saw Nigeria coming up with assistance. If you go around this country, you will find Nigerian teachers and experts in different fields of our economy. So, we know you have changed leaderships in Nigeria from the time since the era of the later Murtala Mohammed, but the assistance has never changed at all. If there is change, we don’t see negative change, but positive change. We are very happy. My dear brother, President Goodluck Jonathan invited me to his inauguration, I did. And the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, too, when he was inaugurated as president, I went there. We are having a wonderful relationship.
What is your take on Nigerians who are in your country?
They are doing well. We don’t have many cases of them misbehaving, but you see, individuals, let me start with Namibians, they don’t do the same things. With the Nigerians here, I have never heard anything negative about them. If one person, perhaps, does something wrong, there is no need to report some of those petty things to the president. As far as I know, the Nigerian brothers and sisters here are working with our people. In fact, we don’t have any problem with Nigerians here. If anything, it is cooperation.
Now, let’s talk about your drive for foreign investment. How far do you see this maiden international investment forum making a difference?
The Namibia International Investment Forum and the Made in Namibia Expo 2011 is being held under the theme: “Enhancing Investments for Job and Wealth Creation.” This theme was deliberately chosen in order to place this Forum within the context of our ongoing initiatives to combat unemployment, strengthen the performance of our economy and improve the living conditions of our people.
It is also part of our belief that tackling unemployment and poverty must be approached in a multi-pronged manner. Such an approach, we believe, will enable us to address the challenges facing us more effectively by drawing from a wider pool of skills, expertise and experiences. Last week, Namibia hosted a Special Cabinet Seminar on Economic Development, which was attended by policy makers and policy implementers. I am confident that the experience shared during that Seminar will create useful synergies for policy-makers vis-à-vis the proceedings of this Forum.
Some foreign investors complain about laws which inhibit their interests, it seems to contradict your drive for investment, what is your reaction to that?
Namibia is fully committed to the creation and maintenance of an attractive investment climate. It is for this reason that we have put policies in place to attract foreign direct investment into the different sectors of our economy. In this regard, our laws and regulatory frameworks are being reviewed and modernised to ensure that they are efficient and competitive, both regionally and internationally. Our aim is to ensure that the rules and policies on investment do indeed promote, instead of hampering investment. We should have in place a seamless framework where investors enjoy speedy service in terms of the registration of business entities, the acquisition of various permits and licenses, as well as predicable and clear rules on the treatment of workers, occupational health and other related issues. This is necessary to make Namibia a successful modern economy.
We understand that at the moment many products used here are imported from South Africa. Will this forum immediately address that?
I am particularly pleased that this Forum incorporates the Made in Namibia Expo 2011 which provides a platform for Namibian manufacturers to showcase their goods. This is part and parcel of our drive to promote value addition and broaden the manufacturing base of our economy towards greater industrialisation. This Forum presents a good opportunity for us to market our country to potential international investors. We are, therefore, pleased that so many delegates have honoured the invitation to come and participate in this event. I would like to assure you that Namibia has a wealth of investment opportunities to offer in different sectors of the economy.
Would you like to briefly highlight those opportunities?
There are indeed many opportunities, ranging from the traditional sectors of mining and fisheries, to new frontiers in the services sector and development of infrastructure, such as the construction of roads, the expansion of our harbours, the modernization of telecommunication networks and the generation of electricity. Even in the traditional sector of mining, Namibia presents new and existing frontiers, especially in the area of uranium mining. Moreover, new opportunities have opened up in the resources sub-sector, including exploration for gas and hydrocarbons. These areas have already attracted increased attention from international investors and I invite you to explore them further.
Thank you, sir
Thank you very much, enjoy your stay in Namibia.