Some Africans have described the late Namibian president, Hage Geingob, as worthy of emulation for ensuring good governance.
Geingob was Namibia’s longest-serving prime minister and third president, having been elected in 2014, and was serving his second term as president until his demise.
Chronicle NG reported that Geingob died aged 82 in a hospital while on cancer treatment.
Vincent Oyuko revealed that “when the President Hage Geingob discovered that he had cancer, he duly informed the citizens of Namibia. Before he left for the USA to seek specialized treatment, he also informed the citizens and made it clear that he would spend only 7 days in the States. His medical expenses were incurred by friends and well-wishers, not the taxpayer. Unfortunately, he died while receiving treatment. There is a lot African leaders can learn from the late Hage Geingob. May He rest in peace.”
Tuyeimo Haidula, a multiple award-winning journalist, expressed her views on good governance: “What happened today is a reminder to never take the peace and stability we enjoy in this country for granted. The nation did not go through turmoil. It is clear we are a country ruled by laws, systems, policies, and processes that work. Long live the Republic of Namibia.”
“He was one of the most accessible individuals, extremely knowledgeable, and professional. I first met him when he was the Minister of Trade in Namibia. We had to have the meeting after he fetched his daughter from school! Our last meeting was in Johannesburg last year, during the BRICS meeting!! Thoughts and prayers with your team, headed by my brother Alfredo! See you! Ali Naka recounts a memorable time.”
Geingob, born in a settlement in northern Namibia in 1941, was the southern African country’s first president who was not from the Ovambo ethnic group, which accounts for more than half of the population.
He began his activism against South Africa’s apartheid state, which ruled Namibia at the time, when he was in elementary school, before being forced into exile.
He spent over three decades in Botswana before moving to the United States in 1964.
