Green hydrogennot going anywhere – Hengari

Outgoing presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari says the government has invested too much in the emerging green hydrogen industry for it to be ignored by the next administration.

This comes as president-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s election manifesto did not prioritise green hydrogen, with the document mentioning green hydrogen only once.

Government sources earlier this month told The Namibian that Nandi-Ndaitwah, who will be sworn in as Namibia’s fifth president on Friday, is allegedly contemplating exerting tighter control over the green hydrogen programme, rather than leaving it to operate independently.

Speaking to Desert FM yesterday, Hengari said some investors in the country are considering opportunities in the green hydrogen sector.

He warned against anti-green hydrogen discussions due to various existing investments in green hydrogen projects.

“There are many areas of our economy with the potential to create a number of jobs for our young people and the unemployed. So that is really the focus we should have right now, and not to be engaged in some polemic about green hydrogen because you have hundreds of millions of Namibia dollars that have been invested in the sector and it’s a sector for the future.

“There’s no question about that,” Hengari said.

He said Nandi-Ndaitwah has prioritised economic diversification as a tool to boost the economy and that green hydrogen is not the only sector she will be looking into.

“A few days ago, president Nangolo Mbumba visited a site that is producing green hydrogen in the Erongo district, and the work HyIron is doing is highly commendable, and the opportunities for investment in the green hydrogen space can only augur well for the Namibian economy.

“But there’s no question about the fact that the incoming president is looking at the diversification of economic opportunities, and green hydrogen is not the only focus,” Hengari said.

He said the incoming administration is looking at injecting N$85 billion into the Namibian economy to create 500 000 jobs, adding that this would require a lot of diversification of the economy.

“It’s a whole bouquet of industries that ought to develop in a country, and not just the focus on green hydrogen, because our country also discovered oil not so long ago, and that sector would require a big push, massive investment.

“I do believe president Nandi-Ndaitwah is looking at our economy in a much more holistic way,” Hengari said.

MBUMBA’S LAST DAYS

He shed some light on Mbumba’s last days in office, highlighting that he is engaged in discussions with the president-elect to ensure a smooth transition of power.

“Over the past few weeks there have been regular consultations between the two leaders to ensure Namibia maintains its stellar tradition of smooth transitions, which speak to the quality of our democracy and the maturity of the Namibian population.”

Hengari said the two leaders are also finalising reports on the Harambee Prosperity Plan, which was piloted by former president Hage Geingob.

“. . . because the new president is not starting on a blank page. A lot of work has been done,” he said.

Mbumba this week vetoed Swapo parliamentarian Jerry Ekandjo’s anti-gay bills.

Hengari said the decision to reject the bills was already made by Geingob before his death.

“He [Geingob] refused to assent to the bills for very obvious reasons, and president Mbumba continued with that same tradition, because if bills don’t speak to aspects of dignity of people, if they don’t speak to our sense of who we are as Namibians, then they will not meet the constitutional test.

“It is in that vein that both president Mbumba and president Geingob refused to assent to those bills,” he said.

Hengari said he will become a pensioner as his time in office comes to an end.

“I’ll be a pensioner. It has been an immense honour for me to serve president Hage Geingob and president Nangolo Mbumba as adviser and presidential spokesperson.

“It has been the job of my life, it has been the ride of my life. I’ve always wanted to be useful to my country, and I hope I’ll remain useful to my country,” he said.