Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign & Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi is set to fly to Windhoek, Namibia, for the Mid-Term Review (MTR) meeting on several bilateral issues.

In a statement on Sunday, September 8, 2024, Mudavadi’s Press Service Director Jacob Ng’etich said Mudavadi will have meetings with Namibian Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Peya Mushelenga.

“The Prime Cabinet Secretary will push for increased collaborations including, the review of several business and diplomatic protocols, and the Namibian establishment of a Diplomatic Mission in Nairobi,” Ng’etich stated.

On June 2, 1992, Kenya and Namibia signed a General Agreement on Cooperation that established the Kenya-Namibia Joint Commission of Cooperation (JCC) and established agreements on agriculture, aviation, health, and education.

“Both countries are signatories to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area(ACFTA), which they have ratified. In addition, they are Members of the COMESA-SADC-EAC Tripartite Free Trade Area which is meant to accelerate economic integration for the people of the Eastern and Southern African region. On the trip, Mudavadi will push for improving Kenya-Namibia trade ties,” he added.

Ng’etich says for over a decade, the balance of trade has been in favour of Namibia to the tune of Ksh11.16 million, where Kenya exports an average of Ksh106.31 million of goods, while it imported goods worth Ksh117.76 million from Namibia.

“Although Namibia has a relatively small population, thus making it a small market for retailers, it is rated the 26th most important new market for retailers, and the second most important in Africa after Botswana, per the Global Retail Development Index 2013 by AT Kearney,” Ng’etich said.

“Also, it (Namibia) normally imports about 50 per cent of its cereal requirements.”

Mudavadi’s mission

Ng’etich says Mudavadi will seek to have Kenyans take advantage of the robust diplomatic relations, and visa-free protocols to invest in the cereal sector.

Kenya’s exports to Namibia include medicament for reducing pain, syringes, electrical equipment, radar apparatus, automatic data machines, petroleum products, clothing, water, and roses.

Namibia’s exports to Kenya include table salts, unwrought zinc, alcoholic beverages, mollusks, ethanol, and clothes.

“The products with the greatest potential for export to Namibia include black tea and coffee. There is also the potential to benchmark and cooperate in the fields of livestock keeping, blue economy, beef and water dam building, and water conservation,” Ng’etich says.

Namibia is home to about 1,000 Kenyan expatriates, working mostly as professionals in the fields of medicine and nursing, teaching, architecture, building and quantity surveying, aviation, marine, advertising, education, transportation, handcrafts, and selling of African clothing, engineering, and business.”

According to Ng’etich, Kenyan-owned enterprises in Namibia include advertising firms, private schools, private hospitals and hospital training schools, engineering and building contractors, architectural consultancy, and information technology.

“In addition, we have UN staff, pastors, and business people in curios and crafts. The Prime Cabinet Secretary will follow up with Namibia on its promise to give Kenyan business people five-year multiple-entry business visas. This is following Kenyan investors’ concerns about the issuing of business visas to explore investment opportunities in Namibia,” he added.

Kenya and Namibia have signed agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on visa abolition, technical cooperation in health, the recruitment of health personnel, cooperation in aviation training, diplomatic training, and cooperation in the field of youth affairs.

Currently, there are several draft agreements, and MOUs in different stages of consideration, including an MOU on a Bilateral Air Services Agreement initiated in 1993 and reviewed and re-initiated in 1999, and on Ports Matters, both of which Ng’etich says are ready for signing.

“Others at different stages include an MOU on science, technology, and productive innovation between Namibia Airports Company and Kenya Airports Authority, a trade and investment agreement on reciprocal promotion and protection of investments and agriculture, livestock, water, forestry, and fisheries.”

Mudavadi is also expected to explore cooperation with the Namibian government for Kenya Airways to establish direct flights and to secure a fifth freedom landing by KQ for SADC member states.

“He will also push Kenyans to leverage the experience and expertise of the Namibia marine sector, including the blue economy. Mudavadi will also use the opportunity to drum up support for the candidature of the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, for the African Union Commission Chairperson position in the February 2025 elections,” Ng’etich says.