Mahama brokering UAE electricity deal for Namibia

Former President John Dramani Mahama was last week reported to have led a delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to broker an electricity deal after for the country.

According to the Namibian.com, Ghana’s former president was reported to have had a closed door meeting with President Hage Geingob during a visit to State House with the sole aim of convincing him to allow the UAE to invest in Namibia’s electricity sector

According to him, he was selected by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to advocate African energy infrastructural investment.

According to Namibian presidential spokesperson Albertus Aochamub, Mahama had in his capacity as an AfDB advocate for African energy self-sufficiency brought UAE representatives to Namibia after they identified the country as one of the most attractive destinations for electricity infrastructure investment.

“Because of Namibia’s strategic geographical location, it has been identified as one of the countries to produce energy,” Mahama told Geingob. Geingob welcomed the delegation and the discussion.

Although the meeting was held behind closed doors, Mahama told the media that a letter had been delivered to Geingob, laying out a potential collaboration in energy production.

The former Ghanaian president said the electricity production plan included renewable energy, gas-to-power and even nuclear energy.

He could, however, not say what the terms of the collaboration would be as that would depend on the Namibian government.

The delegation was also scheduled to meet energy minister Obeth Kandjoze regarding the proposed collaboration.

Namibia is dependent on electricity imports from its neighbours, which account for more than 60% of the country’s electricity consumption.

The UAE has one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world and has committed billions of dollars to infrastructure investment, including in the electricity sector, across Africa.