Hage Geingob, the Namibian President who pushed for Uhuru-Raila ‘handshake’ dies

Hage Geingob wasn’t a pompous President, except for his usual stripped suits. But he had experience on both sides of the world, in Namibia and outside of the country. No wonder, some remember him as politician with a clean slate. Others saw him as just a dirty player. And having worked in Namibia, and abroad, his character trait wasn’t very definite.

In Kenya, they remember him as one of the leaders who pushed for a ‘handshake’ between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then nemesis Raila Odinga. The setting was Bukhungu Sadium in Kakamega County, some 400km west of Nairobi. Geingob arrived in a beige tunic as a guest President for Mashujaa Day celebrations.

“I didn’t believe it, now here it is,” he said raising arms of Kenyatta and Odinga. William Ruto, then Deputy President, now President of Kenya, clapped at the scene. On Sunday, Ruto described Geingob as a “believer in a unified Africa” who strongly promoted the voice and visibility of the continent abroad.

Kenyatta said he remembers Geingob’s “huge contribution to the welfare of the people of Namibia and Africa as a whole.”

“No words can sufficiently convey the magnitude of the loss as President Geingob was a distinguished servant of the people, an outstanding statesman and a great leader full of wisdom,” Kenyatta’s Office said in a statement. Odinga, on his part said Geingob was a “beacon of liberation struggle.” Africa, he said, has lost “a true Pan-Africanist.”

In Namibia, people see their departed President as a liberation hero too.

“The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished servant of the people, a liberation struggle icon, the chief architect of our constitution and the pillar of the Namibian house,” said a statement from acting President Nangolo Mbumba.

Aged 82, he had seen most of the world in Namibia change from a colony to a growing African country.

President Ruto on Sunday led the congregation at Bukhungu stadium in observing a moment of silence in honour of the fallen President.

He said the Kenyan flag will be flown at half-mast in honour of the late Namibian Head of State.

“I stand with the family of President Geingob for their loss. We pray that God gives the people of Namibia the strength and courage in this difficult period of mourning," he said.

Dr Ruto was accompanied by Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi and national assembly speaker Moses Wetang’ula.

Mr Mudavadi termed the death of President Geingob as a big loss not only to his family but also to the entire continent.

“I am greatly saddened by the death of a great leader who contributed to the liberation of his country. May God comfort his family, the people of Namibia and Africa,” he said.

Namibia is set to go for its general election at the end of 2024.

Perhaps one of his legacy points was that his sickness and death weren’t hidden, as some African countries would do.

On February 1, the Presidency said that he had been treated for cancer in the US and announced his return the previous day. Then he was hospitalised in Windhoek.

He was the country’s third head of state and also head of the ruling South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).

“The President of the Republic of Namibia has passed on today, Sunday 4 February 2024 at around 00h04 at Lady Pohamba Hospital where he was receiving medical treatment from his medical team.”, the Presidency announced.

Geingob married his wife Monica Geingos in 2015. He had three children from two previous marriages.

Born Hage Gottfried Geingob, he became politically active from 1958 while studying at Augustineum College for a Teacher Training Course. Some records indicate he was a freedom fighter, or a human rights activist. The colonial government viewed him as a criminal as organised marches against the inferior education offered to black students by South Africa’s apartheid regime, which also had a stranglehold on Namibia, then known as South West Africa.  He was initially expelled, but later readmitted at the College.

In 1964 SWAPO him its representative to the UN and to the Americas. He served at the UN in various capacities until 1989. During the time, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Fordham University and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the School for Social Research in New York. He also had a PhD in politics from the University of Leeds, London.

In his party, he also served as deputy President between 2007 and 2012.

Geingob was born on August 3, 1941 at Otjiwarongo, Otjozondjupa Region in today’s Namibia. He rose to be a senior civil servant, locally and abroad. In Namibia, he served as a Minister for Trade and Industry between 2008 to 2012 in the government of Hifikepunye Pohamba.

Before that, he also served as the country’s post-independence first prime minister between 1990 to 2002. Geingob was elected President on March 21, 2015. He retained the seat in the November 27, 2019, the last five-year term in office.

His Presidency was marked with some positives. He and his wife declared their wealth to the Namibian public, saying their estimated total wealth in 2015 was about N$111 million ($5.95 million in today’s exchange rates). Some praised this gesture which made him the first Namibian statesman to do so.

In the same year, he was awarded the Africa-America Institute’s (AAI) Lifetime Achievement and Distinguished Alumnus prize in New York.

According to the AAI, the award was an acknowledgement of the former president Geingob’s leadership in the fight for independence and his pursuit of social and economic progress in his country, most notably in the sphere of education, during his decades-long engagement in politics and public service at home and at the UN.

His wife especially has become a vocal critic of Germans, the first colonial country accused of genocide on the continent when they massacred thousands of Herero and Nama people in Namibia. The atrocities were committed in the early 1900s and were even officially acknowledged by German which offered some form of compensation. But the debate arose again last month after Germany opposed a case at the International Court of Justice in which Israel is accused of similar crimes in Gaza.

Nonetheless, the Geingob was in 2018 awarded the African Award for Gender following his effort in creating a standard structure for the promotion and protection of women in Namibia.

In 2023, he received the African Energy Chamber 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award during the African Energy Week conference in Cape Town in recognition of his efforts in promoting socioeconomic development through the growth of the energy sector in Africa.

In 2023, he also received an award at the COP28 as the green infrastructure investment statesman of the year.

Since 2010, Geingob had developed a tradition of donating five heads of cattle annually from his farm to several municipal councils in an effort to meet the needs of the old people.

In 2015, he pledged a total amount of N$30,000 (approximately $1,586) from his salary to purchase much-needed food items for the needy people mainly in the towns of Otjiwarongo, Otavi, Tsumeb, Kalkfeld and Grootfontein.

In July 2017, the President Geingob pledged an additional N$10,000 (approximately $528) from his salary to fund the same programme.

He also pledged another N$20,000 (approximately $ 1.057) from his monthly salary towards the One Economy Foundation to assist in the education initiatives.

Despite all the achievements, Geingob’s presidency was marked with scandals. A 2019 WikiLeaks report with Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit and the Icelandic public broadcaster RUV showed that Geingob’s 2014 election campaign was supported by funds from the country’s fishing resources.

In 2021, the US Department of State announced the designation of former Namibian government officials under President Geingob, Bernhardt Esau and Sakeus Shanghala, due to their involvement in significant corruption.

Following the scandal, The Namibian newspaper reported that Geingob allegedly instructed his former government officials to the divert funds from a state-run fishing company to bribe attendees of the Swapo electoral congress to vote for him in 2017.

He denied all the allegations.

Additional reporting by SHABAN MAKOKHA