Hage Geingob

Hage Geingob
3rd President of Namibia
Assumed office
21 March 2015
Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa
Vice President Nickey Iyambo
Preceded by Hifikepunye Pohamba
President of SWAPO
Assumed office
19 April 2015
Preceded by Hifikepunye Pohamba
Prime Minister of Namibia
In office
4 December 2012 – 20 March 2015
President Hifikepunye Pohamba
Preceded by Nahas Angula
Succeeded by Saara Kuugongelwa
In office
21 March 1990 – 28 August 2002
President Sam Nujoma
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Theo-Ben Gurirab
Minister of Trade and Industry
In office
8 April 2008 – 4 December 2012
Prime Minister Nahas Angula
Preceded by Immanuel Ngatjizeko
Succeeded by Calle Schlettwein
Personal details
Born (1941-08-03) 3 August 1941
Otjiwarongo, Southwest Africa (now Namibia)
Political party SWAPO
Spouse(s) Patty Geingos (Married 1967; Divorced)
Loini Kandume (1993–2008)
Monica Kalondo (2015–present)
Children 3
Alma mater Temple University
Fordham University
New School
University of Leeds
Religion Lutheranism

Hage Gottfried Geingob[1] (born 3 August 1941[2]) is the third and the current President of Namibia, in office since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 21 March 1990 to 28 August 2002, and he served as Prime Minister again from 4 December 2012 to 21 March 2015. Between 2008 and 2012 Geingob served as Minister of Trade and Industry. He was Vice-President of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) between 2007 and 2015 and became President in 2015 when his predecessor, Hifikepunye Pohamba, stepped down.

In November 2014, Geingob was elected as President of Namibia by an overwhelming margin.

Early life

Geingob was born in Otjiwarongo, South-West Africa (present-day Namibia), in 1941. He received his early education at Otavi in South-West Africa under the Bantu Education System. He joined the Augustineum, where most of today’s prominent political leaders of Namibia were educated, in 1958. In 1960, he was expelled from Augustineum for having participated in a march in protest at the poor quality of education. He was, however, re-admitted and was able to finish the teacher-training course in 1961. Subsequently, he took up a teaching position at the Tsumeb Primary School in Central Namibia but soon discovered that his thirst for knowledge was unlikely to be quenched in Namibia. As a teacher, he also hated being an unwilling instrument in perpetuating the Bantu Education System.

Therefore, at the end of the school year, he left his job to seek knowledge and instruction that could help him change the system. He, with three of his colleagues, walked and hitch-hiked to Botswana to escape the system. From Botswana, he was scheduled to go to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on a plane chartered by the African National Congress (ANC). However, this plane was blown up by the South Africans when it was still on the ground because the time bomb went off prematurely. Subsequently, the apartheid regime also tightened up the "underground railway". As a result, Hage Geingob stayed on in Botswana where he served as Assistant South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) Representative in Botswana (1963–64).

University years

In 1964, Hage Geingob left for the United States to study at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was granted a scholarship. Subsequently, he obtained a BA degree from Fordham University in New York City in 1970 and an MA degree in International Relations from the Graduate Faculty of The New School, New York in 1974.

In 1964, he was appointed SWAPO Representative at the United Nations and to the Americas. He served in this position until 1971. He travelled extensively, criss-crossing the United States, talking with people, addressing gatherings. He and his colleagues were not always successful, but they did find some converts who helped them keep the Namibian issue alive at the United Nations until the United Nations General Assembly's recognition of SWAPO as the sole and authentic representative of the people of Namibia. Namibians' struggle at the international fora, and their armed struggle launched in 1966 eventually led to the independence of Namibia in 1990.

Career as politician and educationist

In 1972, Hage Geingob was appointed to the United Nations Secretariat as Political Affairs Officer, a position he held until 1975 when he was appointed Director of the United Nations Institute for Namibia. He, with his team, was responsible for starting this training and research Institute whose primary function was to train cadres who could take over the civil service of Namibia on independence. An important component of the Institute was also to carry out sectoral research to develop policy framework for the government of independent Namibia. Over the years, the Institute grew in stature and institutional relations were established with various institutions of higher learning in Europe, e.g., University of Warwick, University of East Anglia, and University of Sussex. These and other institutions recognized the Institute's diploma and readily admitted its graduates for further studies.

Hage Geingob held the position of the Director of the Institute until 1989. At the same time, he continued to be a member of both the Central Committee and the Politburo of SWAPO.

In 1989, he was elected by the Politburo of SWAPO to spearhead SWAPO's election campaign in Namibia. To carry out this assignment, he returned to Namibia with many of his colleagues on 18 June 1989, after 27 years' absence from the country. As SWAPO's Director of Elections, Hage Geingob along with other members of his directorate established SWAPO election centres throughout the country and spearheaded an election campaign which brought SWAPO to power in Namibia.

On 21 November 1989 subsequent to the elections, he was elected Chairman of the Constituent Assembly which was responsible for formulating the Namibian Constitution. However, before a constitution could be formulated, he had to ensure that the Constituent Assembly went through a process of confidence building between the people who were known for their hatred of each other. Seeds of national reconciliation were thus sown at this Constituent Assembly. Subsequently, national reconciliation was to become government policy. Under his chairmanship, the Constituent Assembly unanimously adopted the Namibian Constitution on 9 February 1990. This Constitution is considered to be one of the most liberal and democratic in Africa if not the world.

On 21 March 1990, Hage Geingob was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia, and on 21 March 1995, he was again sworn in as the Prime Minister of Namibia for the second term. He served in this capacity for twelve years. Hage Geingob, as Prime Minister introduced modern management approaches to the running of the government.

Hage Geingob was also committed to nature conservation coupled with tourism, and in the early 1990s opened the Ongava Lodge, just south of Etosha National Park.

In a cabinet reshuffle on August 27, 2002, Geingob was replaced as Prime Minister by Theo-Ben Gurirab and was instead appointed Minister of Regional and Local Government and Housing.[3][4] Geingob declined to accept this lesser position, however.[3][5] He had placed ninth, with 368 votes, in the election to the Central Committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress,[6] but on September 15, he failed to be re-elected to the SWAPO Politburo; he received 33 votes from the 83-member Central Committee, while the lowest scoring successful candidate received 35 votes.[7]

Geingob signing a trade deal with Russia in 2009. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is standing on the left at the back

In 2003, Hage Geingob was invited to be the Executive Secretary of the Global Coalition for Africa based in Washington, D.C. The Global Coalition for Africa is an innovative intergovernmental forum that brings together top African policymakers and their partners in the international community to build consensus on Africa’s priority development issues. It is based on the premise that Africa can grow only from within, but to do so it needs outside support. His focus was to work with African continental and regional organizations and Africa’s development partners towards conflict resolution in Africa, promotion of good governance in African states, and integration of African economies in the global economy.

In the nomination of SWAPO parliamentary candidates by party delegates on October 2, 2004, Geingob, who was at the time still in Washington working for the Global Coalition for Africa, placed 28th out of 60.[8] He then left the Global Coalition for Africa and returned to Namibia to participate in the November 2004 parliamentary election, in which he won a seat.[9]

Geingob became the Party Chief Whip of SWAPO in the National Assembly on April 18, 2007.[10] He was brought back into the SWAPO Politburo in mid-2007, filling one of two vacancies.[11] In November 2007, a few weeks before a party congress, the Politburo named Geingob as its sole candidate for the position of Vice-President of SWAPO.[12] At the congress, he was accordingly elected without opposition on November 29, 2007[13] and subsequently appointed as Minister of Trade and Industry on April 8, 2008.[14]

At SWAPO's 2012 party congress, Geingob was re-elected as Vice-President of SWAPO on 2 December 2012,[15][16] a result that was considered likely to make him the successor of Hifikepunye Pohamba as President of Namibia in 2015. Geingob received 312 votes from the delegates, while Jerry Ekandjo received 220 votes and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana received 64 votes.[16] Following the congress, President Pohamba appointed Geingob as Prime Minister on 4 December 2012.[15]

As the SWAPO candidate, Geingob was elected as President of Namibia by an overwhelming margin on 28 November 2014, receiving 87% of the vote. He was sworn in as President on 21 March 2015; and the ceremony was attended by fifteen regional Heads of State and Government.[17]

Personal life

In 1967 Geingob married Priscilla Charlene Cash, a New York City native; the couple had one daughter, Nangula Geingos-Dukes.[18] Geingob later married Loini Kandume, a businesswoman, on September 11, 1993, in Windhoek, in a high-profile marriage which resulted in two children: a daughter and a son.[19] Geingob initiated divorce proceedings against Kandume in May 2006, and he was granted a provisional divorce order in July 2008.[19] Geingob married Monica Kalondo on February 14, 2015.[20] Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium in Windhoek is named after him.

Awards and honours

Research activities and publications

Hage Geingob received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. His thesis was entitled "State Formation in Namibia: Promoting Democracy and Good Governance".[21] In his thesis, he examined significant events in the process of state formation in Namibia and provided an insight into the role played by various actors involved in shaping the evolution of Namibia as a state. He also examined the efforts of Namibians to build a reconciled society out of ethnically and racially stratified, diverse and often antagonistic groups, to promote democracy and a policy of reconciliation, to improve the life condition of the previously disadvantaged groups through affirmative action, to encourage good governance, to promote a culture of human rights, and to build state institutions to support these policies. Finally, he carried out a democratic audit of Namibia.

As the Director of the Institute for Namibia and as the Chairman of the Research Coordinating Committee, Hage Geingob oversaw all research activities at the United Nations Institute for Namibia. The result of this effort resulted in 22 published research studies.

He was also the Chairman of the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on Namibia, Namibia: Perspectives for National Reconstruction and Development, which was undertaken by the United Nations Institute for Namibia in pursuance of the mandate given to it by the United Nations General Assembly.[22] This study covered all aspects of socio-economic reconstruction and development for independent Namibia. This study came to be known as the "Blue Bible", referring to the colour of its cover, among the researchers and planners of Namibia. Indeed, this study provided the blueprint for setting up the new government in independent Namibia.

In addition, Hage Geingob has contributed numerous articles to various publications, including monographs, periodicals and newspapers.

He has travelled extensively covering all the continents and has attended, chaired, and presented papers at numerous UN and other international conferences. He also regularly attended the General Assembly sessions from 1965–85.

References

  1. ↑ "Geingob is a champion of the poor". New Era Newspaper Namibia. October 31, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  2. ↑ Page on Geingob at Namibian parliament website.
  3. 1 2 Christof Maletsky, "Nujoma shuffles the Cabinet pack", The Namibian, August 28, 2002. Archived November 19, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Nujoma announces cabinet reshuffle; prime minister demoted", Nampa, August 27, 2002.
  5. ↑ "Namibian president "acknowledges" former premier's resignation", The Namibian, August 29, 2002.
  6. ↑ "The ruling party's new Central Committee", The Namibian, August 27, 2002. Archived January 4, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Former Premier Geingob out of ruling party central committee", The Namibian, September 16, 2002.
  8. ↑ Tangeni Amupadhi, "Major shift in Swapo leadership", The Namibian, October 4, 2004. Archived April 29, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ List of members of the National Assembly elected in 2004.
  10. ↑ "Minutes of Proceedings of the National Assembly", Namibian parliament website, April 18, 2007.
  11. ↑ Brigitte Weidlich, "Crunch time for Swapo", The Namibian, October 2, 2007.
  12. ↑ Christof Maletsky, "Hage named heir apparent", The Namibian, November 12, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Nujoma succeeded by Pohamba", AFP, November 30, 2007. Archived copy at WebCite (February 1, 2010).
  14. ↑ Kuvee Kangueehi, "Cabinet shake up", New Era, April 9, 2008.
  15. 1 2 "Namibia leader taps trade minister as likely successor", Reuters, 4 December 2012.
  16. 1 2 Immanuel, Shinovene; Shipanga, Selma (3 December 2012). "Moderates prevail". The Namibian. Archived December 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  17. ↑ "Namibia inaugurates President Hage Geingob", The Namibian, 21 March 2015.
  18. ↑ PM's ex-wife Patty dies, The Namibian, December 5, 2014
  19. 1 2 "Geingob marriage on rocks", The Namibian, July 24, 2008.
  20. ↑ Geingob, Monica say 'I do', The Namibian, February 16, 2015
  21. ↑ State formation in Namibia : promoting democracy and good governance, Geingob, Hage Gottfried, University of Leeds, 2004
  22. ↑ Namibia: Perspectives for National Reconstruction and Development, United Nations Institute for Namibia, 1986, page 10

External links

Political offices
New office Prime Minister of Namibia
1990–2002 		Succeeded by
Theo-Ben Gurirab
Preceded by
Nahas Angula		 Prime Minister of Namibia
2012–2015 		Succeeded by
Saara Kuugongelwa
Preceded by
Hifikepunye Pohamba		 President of Namibia
2015–present 		Incumbent
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