Mbumba pockets N$1.9m S&T for 50 days

President Nangolo Mbumba has travelled to 14 countries in 11 months, qualifying for around N$1.9 million in travel allowances.

In September, the president spent just 10 days in the country.

These trips raised questions about necessity and value to the country, particularly for a leader considered by some as a placeholder for the next administration.

The 83-year-old’s frequent trips include visits to the United States (US), China, Germany, The Netherlands and Cuba.

Mbumba has told his officials that he did not not want to be perceived as a “frequent flyer president”.

Economist Omu Kakujaha-Matundu says estimating the president’s direct or tangible benefits is not easy.

He says in-person meetings are important for diplomacy.

“But the president should not be a chronic globetrotter while the nation is reeling from drought and starvation,” he says.

‘UNCLE MITIRI’

Mbumba earns an estimated untaxed N$1.7 million per year (more than N$141 600 per month).

He also gets all living expenses paid for by the state, including food, clothing and other basic needs.

Mbumba insisted in his first days as head of state that he is finishing Geingob’s term.

He refrained from travelling for at least a month after taking over State House.

His first trip as president was to Luanda, Angola, on 4 March for a one-day official visit to discuss “mutual interests affecting both countries” with his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço.

Luanda is considered one of the favourite destinations of government officials to claim S&Ts for.

A week after returning from Angola, Mbumba flew to Gaborone, Botswana, to attend a memorial service for Geingob.

Between April and June, Mbumba travelled to Tanzania, Kenya, The Netherlands, Zambia and South Africa for various summits and ceremonies, including the 60th Union Day of Tanzania, the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit, the World Hydrogen 2024 Summit and Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration, qualifying for N$208 000 in S&Ts for these trips.

HIGH FLYER

On 17 August, the president attended the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government conference in Harare, Zimbabwe.

On 30 August, Mbumba flew to Beijging, China, to participate in the seven-day ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, earning N$280 000 for that trip.

A week later, Mbumba flew to New York, US for the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The president’s 12 days stay in New York earned him around N$857 800, more than Geingob, who often went to other cities in the US.

In both 2019 and 2021, Geingob spent seven days in New York, while in 2022, he stayed for eight days.

In total, Geingob spent 33 days in New York in four years.

Seven days after he returned from New York, Mbumba embarked on a seven-day visit to Germany and Spain.

On 8 November, Mbumba attended Botswana president Duma Boko’s inauguration in Gaborone.

A month later, he travelled to Qatar for the 22nd Doha Forum from 7 to 8 December.

Last week, he embarked on a four-day state visit to Cuba for bilateral talks with president Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Mbumba returned from Cuba last night.

‘NOT FOR PER DIEMS’

Mbumba spokesperson Alfredo Hengari said: “It is therefore regrettable that The Namibian has always shown excessive and sensational interest in the per diems of the head of state.

Presidents do not travel for per diems. It is a denigration of the head of state and the country to intone such in the national conversation.”

Hengari said since Geingob’s death, Mbumba has undertaken a few half- and one-day missions to a selected small number of countries in the SADC.

“The missions to Botswana, Angola and South Africa should be considered in that light,” he said.

Hengari said Mbumba undertook a handful of international missions outside Africa in line with Namibia’s developmental, renewable and green hydrogen agenda.

Hengari said the missions to Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and the Hamburg (Germany) sustainability seminar were for an “extension of the domestic agenda of economic development and the calibration of new engines of growth”.

“These objectives were met . . ,” he said.

Hengari said in The Netherlands Mbumba met with King Willem-Alexander to reinforce their views on green energy.

In Germany, Hengari said, Mbumba held meetings with German chancellor Olaf Scholz and president Frank-Walter Steinmeier to discuss green energy and the genocide issue.

Hengari also defended the president’s trip to Beijing, saying it included N$500 million in grants for future projects.

He said additionally, the Chinese government committed close to N$50 million worth of assistance towards drought relief.

Hengari said Namibia was asked alongside Germany to co-chair the 2024 United Nations Summit of the Future, which delivered the Pact for the Future on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“The Namibian is better off taking a yearly analytical view of the work of the president in global affairs as opposed to a reductionist and inconsequential interpretation that reduces Namibia and the head of state to per diems,” he said.

Hengari and other State House top officials have also enjoyed S&Ts during their travels with the president over the years.

Landless People’s Movement spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa says some presidential trips are essential to ensure bilateral agreements can be made and to ensure the country signs cooperations with other countries.

“There needs to be a balance as to whether all these events are necessary, especially for a head of state, or could it be that he does not need to attend those events?” he asked.

Public policy analyst Marius Kudumo says some trips are beneficial, although the nation is not always privy and attentive to their outcomes.

“Strengthening both bilateral and multilateral relations in a global competitive world is in the best interest of Namibia,” he says.

Political analyst Henning Melber says when Mbumba substituted the late Geingob, he declared that he would be a mere ‘caretaker’ who is temporarily in office and this was widely welcomed.

“We could witness the acting president deviating from this initially articulated modesty in several ways. His extensive travelling also displayed ill-advised preferences for touring the world while being a caretaker,” he says.

Melber says while several of the travels were clearly part of Mbumba’s duties in office, many were tantamount to a waste of time and money.

“It was showing off beyond any justified proportions at the cost of the taxpayers,” he says.

The president of Swanu of Namibia, Evilastus Kaaronda, says foreign trips undertaken by Namibian presidents do not benefit taxpayers.