Alfredo Hengari

In the conduct of statecraft, Sherlock Holmes is partly right when he says that we should also listen to the dogs that do not bark. 

This powerful metaphor is particularly essential in the pursuit of a development-oriented foreign policy, which under difficult circumstances, President Hage G. Geingob has been harnessing through the Harambee Prosperity Plan. Although foreign affairs and the presidential diplomacies that drive our development are by default or by design uncommented by analysts and hardly receive headlines in the domestic press, the growing profile of Namibia in global affairs is perceptible. 

It should be fêted by outward-looking citizens, including the media. In fact, a European media leader recently commented to me that it is the business of the organised domestic press to celebrate and promote the image of their own country through a type of journalism that also speaks boldly to the achievements and greatness of their country and their citizens. To that, I will add the private sector, which should assume an active role by joining the efforts of the President and the government in promoting Namibia as a dynamic growth centre.

Be that as it may, the past seven years have been consequential, with President Geingob among others presiding with tact, moral energy and savoir-faire over SADC when the DRC witnessed in 2019 its first democratic transition since independence in 1960. Additionally, in November 2021, President Geingob as part of the selected Leaders Pledge at COP26, took centre-stage alongside Presidents Joe Biden, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi of India, Boris Johnson of Great Britain and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Last week, President Geingob completed an intensive sequence of high-level meetings with Heads of State and Government in the European Union, including business leaders, positioning Namibia as an ally in the delivery of global public goods, and importantly as an attractive investment destination. In this year of reimaging and at a time when we are pursuing post-Covid-19 economic recovery, what should we conclude from this growing profile, and what is the role of President Geingob as the diplomat in chief? Where do we situate the President as the main trustee of our national interests when Namibia is invited by Emmanuel Macron of France to form a select group of leaders to discuss in Brest the future of our oceans as a global public good? Consider this, there are hundreds of countries with access to the oceans! What meaning should we ascribe when President Geingob is invited for a state visit by President Xi Jinping of China? Admittedly, it would be wholly imprudent to argue that the respect and the growing prestige Namibia enjoys and the demands placed on President Geingob to honour requests in the external calendar are in their entirety the result of the personal profile of the President.  It is not trivial, but Namibia’s ability to attract international consideration in diverse issue areas, including climate change, oceans and energy diplomacy, development, peace and security, to mention but a few, is a function of what we have collectively achieved over the past three decades. We are a stable and developmental democracy with the rule of law and strong emphasis on transparent processes, systems and institutions. We deal with difficult political and societal issues within our democratic franchise. We don’t pull guns out to solve them, and we should continue on that trajectory.

Our challenges notwithstanding, we fare well on governance across all indices and boast the freest press in Africa, and our global free press ranking ahead of leading democracies such as France and the United States is highly commendable. Moreover, we are globally recognised as a leading country in conservation, which is not a small feat at a time when humanity is facing a climate emergency, and not to mention pandemics, which are a consequence of how we live as human beings. On the whole, with regard to the great causes and challenges facing humanity, Namibia, by virtue of her history, takes a principled moral and utilitarian stance in support of peace, justice, solidarity and multilateralism. These assets, which we have developed over the past 32 years, constitute the power of our example, of which some would be classified as the soft power of a nation by the leading scholar of International Relations, Joseph Nye Jr. 

In the execution of foreign policy, our domestic successes and our approaches to the challenges we face are without question an essential part of the explanatory equation. However, as President Geingob enters the final sprint of his Presidency, the crucial question is how his diplomatic style, the values of tolerance, the inclusive and effective governance principles he continues to espouse at home and abroad with remarkable consistency, have elevated our stock as an attractive country, and shaped our foreign policy in unprecedent ways.  After all, when the Emir of Qatar; or President Paul Kagame of Rwanda invites our President; or when the Prime Minister of Norway calls on President Geingob to join the Oceans Panel, the person who occupies the Presidency is a pivotal consideration, just like the country. When foreign leaders call on President Geingob for advice, they do so because they have trust in the moral clarity, thought leadership and ideological vision of the Namibian Head of State. It does suggest that there is overwhelming consensus that leaders and their personas as foreign policy trustees do matter in the conduct of diplomacy.

With President Geingob helming our foreign policy for the final leg of his Presidency, our profile is growing, and the President continues to emphasise socio-economic development as the key objective. As our national prestige takes giant leaps forward through presidential diplomacies, we need the dogs that do not bark among our citizenry to be outward-looking, and to support the efforts of the Head of State in order to develop our country. After all, foreign policy is about the development of our people. In that endeavour, no one, and no one should feel left out, including the dogs that do not bark in the dark.  

*Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is the Presidential Press Secretary and holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Paris-Pantheon-Sorbonne, France.