By: Staff Writer
President Hage Geingob said the discovery of oil in Namibia should not excite people to think that manna has come to earth.
The French company, TotalEnergies announced last month that they had discovered massive oil reserves off the Namibian coast.
TotalEnergies owns (40%), QatarEnergy (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%) and Namcor (10%).
Royal Dutch Shell Plc announced another discovery last month. Shell has a 45% interest in Block 2913A, with Qatar Petroleum holding 45% and the National Petroleum Co. of Namibia with 10%.
Speaking to Al Jazeera during his state visit last week, Geingob said that while oil will help Namibia develop, it is sometimes a curse.
Geinogb said the discovery of oil and the green hydrogen issues were making Namibia to be on the top shelf of the world.
He said he was in Brussels, where he saw everybody, the King, and the Prime Ministers.
“So that is what Namibia is now. It seems,” he said, adding that the people should not be excited now but careful.
“I think we must be kind of careful about not to get excited and think that manna is now on earth.
“It takes a long time. It is true it (oil) might help us develop our country, but oil has been a curse in many countries,” Geingob said.
The President said he hoped that since Namibia was talking to those involved as equals, he believed that there would be a win-win situation.
Geingob said oil would specifically change the situation, but he said he does see a big difference because it’s not Namibia’s oil.
He added the money would be taken outside the country to those who discovered the oil.
“We will have our royalties and so on. We do not see a big difference. We have our gold. We have diamonds. It still goes outside in raw form.
“Its value is added outside, jobs created outside. Technology transferred. We hope there will be some kind of value addition in the country. That’s the only way you can say jobs have been created, and the money will pay salaries, and money will stay in the country.”
Asked how Namibia settled on Total and Shell, Geingob said he did not know about Qatar’s involvement in the oil search.
“I was told when they discovered the oil. Of course, we are a little bit wary about it because we had that kind of experience in the past. We were excited there would be oil and so forth, and there was nothing.
“So we were a little bit cool. Only to be told properly that there is oil. I told them do not get excited. Cool it. And we will see how we are gonna discuss with those who discovered oil. What will be the benefits that will accrue to Namibia from those who discovered the oil.”
On ensuring that oil will not be a curse to Namibia, Geingob said he would see that there is transparency and accountability plus harmony.
“As I said, the proof is that it did not go through the top but started with the minister and the experts. The problem is when the politician decides, it is discussed between the politicians and the investor alone, then we have a problem.”
Namibia’s Challenges
After apartheid, he said, Namibia hammered on education and that affirmative action created problems.
“Young people are graduating and no employment. And when you have educated young people with knowledge and are bored with no jobs, you are sitting on a time bomb,” he said.
Geingob said institutions were being set up to discuss the green hydrogen project and the oil discoveries with those involved to solve this problem.
The President said the Constitution was making it impossible to do much on land reform.
According to Geingob, five western countries with kith and kin in Namibia directed the constitutional process to protect their families.
As a result, under Namibia’s Constitution, he said land is considered property so that no one could take it away.
Asked why he does not repeal the Constitution, Geingob said one must go with time.
“It’s true, land per se does not make you rich. I have a farm. I had it for 20 years. You can sit there and also starve on that farm. We tried to buy land to settle our people. But if you do not train them, how do you start to land. It does help. The idea is to utilise the land. If everybody is in towns, they have jobs, are they going to ask for land?
“If they are properly employed, and they have income. It is a question of income, its poverty, and if you address poverty wholesale, maybe it will help, but some people are using land now that it belongs to our country, but what about Windhoek?” He said the government would address the land issue properly and peacefully.
“Land does not solve immediate problems. President [Robert] Mugabe grabbed land but was that a solution? We have to address it peacefully.”
Asked whether he is the right person since the elite has huge tracts of land, Geingob said he was born on a white man’s farm, and he could have grabbed it, but he bought it.
“I did not buy the farm to make a profit. I bought it to make a home,” he said.
He denied that it is difficult for the white farmers to sell their land, saying it is what is done with the land after it is bought.
Elephant Sale
Geingob said people were selling their elephants because Namibia is a capitalist country.
“If somebody has elephants on their farms, they sell them, and we control them,” he said, denying that 180 elephants were sold recently.
“How did they transport the elephants? Did you see them being captured?” He asked combatively.
When told that elephants are the heritage of the people of Namibia, Geingob said those selling elephants were doing so because those buying do not have elephants or lions.
“You are just like them. They do not have elephants and lions in their countries, but they come to teach people who have the resources how to preserve that resource.”
On education, Geingob said Namibia had done a great job and that it was not a problem, but jobs were. He said girls made up the biggest number of those graduating.
“We have to create jobs. You are tooled. Everybody has to be tooled. Education is given to you, and you must use that to create your own jobs.”
He said the issue of poverty is politics, and there are poor people in Kenya and America.
Geingob said there was a democracy in Namibia, and it was not a problem that the first three presidents were from the liberation struggle.
“If people are electing, what is your problem? We are number one in Africa when it comes to the freedom of the press,” he said.