By: Justicia Shipena
Minister in the Presidency Christine //Hoebes has described Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) parliamentarian, Henny Seibeb’s allegations against the Green Hydrogen project as “deceptive and selfish” in pursuit of a misplaced political goal.
//Hoebes was responding to Seibeb’s queries about his motion on the Green Hydrogen Project, which he tabled last month.
Seibeb claimed in the motion that Namibia’s Green Hydrogen project, overseen by State House, is cloaked in secrecy.
In addition, the LPM lawmaker claimed that there has been a lack of engagement with leaders and communities.
//Hoebes stated that Seibeb’s assertions are unsubstantiated.
“The allegations, which I label as misleading and selfish to a misguided political ambition, that the project is shrouded in secrecy. It is unfounded and must be dismissed as a political cheap point scoring, an exercise [born out] of their political philosophy of casting this caring government as failing the nation,” the Minister hit back.
According to her, in March 2022, President Hage Geingob, together with members of the Green Hydrogen Council, invited all opposition political party leaders to State House for an in-depth consultation on the Green Hydrogen project.
//Hoebes stated that this invitation had been extended to the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), Landless Peoples Movement (PM), Rally for Democracy Party (RDP), Christian Democratic Party (CDP), National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), United Democratic Front (UDF), Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), and South West Africa National Union (Swanu.
“In addition to the above relentless efforts to widely publicise awareness of the Green Hydrogen project throughout the country, one of the first public engagements was a presentation to the National Assembly,” she said.
Namibia’s Green Hydrogen project aims to establish an at-scale green fuels sector with a production target of 10- 12 Mtpa hydrogen equivalent by 2050.
After launching the project during Cop26 in 2021, Namibia is actively building hydrogen valleys in the southern region of Kharas, the central region containing Walvis Bay port, and the northern region of Kunene.
The government unveiled its Green Hydrogen Strategy last year, indicating that Namibia is well-positioned to help reduce the predicted worldwide hydrogen demand-supply gap and minimise the cost of the net-zero transition.
Following Cop26, countries, including Namibia, were required to submit ambitious 2030 emission reduction objectives aligned with reaching net zero by the middle of the century.
//Hoebes said that several engagements by Green Hydrogen Council members and //Kharas Region communities took place in Lüderitz and Keetmanshoop.
“The very member who had a privileged opportunity to receive the vision from the Head of State first, two years ago, had the audacity to claim that he only heard about the Government’s green hydrogen ambitions from mainstream media,” the Minister lamented.
During the tabling of his motion, Seibeb asked whether the Green Hydrogen project is a padlock on poverty or a key to wealth.
He also claimed at the time that, despite the signing of the Feasibility Implementation Agreement (FIA) between Hyphen Hydrogen Energy (Hyphen) and the Namibian government, the government’s progress in promoting the Green Hydrogen industry had been sluggish at best, moving at a snail’s pace.
The government signed the Feasibility and Implementation Agreement (FIA) with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy at State House in May of this year.
Seibeb also argued that mainstream media coverage had shaped public awareness of the government’s initiatives to adopt green hydrogen.
“As recently as the end of April 2023, it was difficult to obtain information about the Green Hydrogen project in Namibia,” he claimed.
Seibeb also questions if the country is constructing an industry or just another project, and how if the Green Hydrogen Council expects a synthetic fuels bill to be introduced.
“Are we genuinely dedicated to building a sustainable Green Hydrogen industry or are we solely focused on one project?” he asked.
He also requested to know the status of the joint venture plan for green hydrogen that had been made to the government and had been made public by the Head of State a year earlier.
