Dr. Penny Tuna Magdalena Uukunde
A Diplomatic Reflection on a Nation Full of Potential but Caught in the Performance Loop
Namibia is not short of vision. We are not short of policies, frameworks, or even goodwill. From industrialization plans to procurement reform, youth development charters to tourism strategies on paper, Namibia shines. But what do we have to show for all this brilliance if the wealth we generate enters but fails to circulate?
We are experiencing economic leakage not just in the literal sense of capital outflows or expatriate profit repatriation, but in a deeper, more systemic way. Talent leaks. Opportunities leak. Confidence leaks. And most importantly, circulation leaks the natural flow that sustains a healthy economic organism.
This is not about blame. This is about diagnosis.
Namibia is currently structured as a performance economy, where success is often measured by appearance, formality, or compliance with protocols rather than by actual impact or multiplicative value. Conferences get hosted, photos are taken, procurement is completed but where is the actual activation of value? Who is accessing the resources repeatedly, and who is consistently locked out?
What we are witnessing is the aftershock of historical scarcity. Generational deprivation creates protective behaviors. Protective behaviors become gatekeeping. Gatekeeping reduces circulation. Reduced circulation mimics scarcity and so, the cycle continues.
“You can’t compete regionally if you’re still competing internally for recognition.”
This isn’t just philosophical. It’s practical. In 2023 alone, Namibia welcomed over 360,000 tourists yet much of that spending never reached local communities. In procurement, government reports show that under 15% of registered youth owned businesses access public tenders, despite youth unemployment hovering around 46%. Delegates sleep in high-end hotels, while surrounding SMEs remain invisible to the economic process meant to uplift them.
We do not lack money. We lack coherence. We have laws, we have vision documents, we have international support but without internal alignment, all of it leaks.
What causes this?
Gatekeeping, yes but not always out of malice. It is often an inherited system of exclusion, a learned behavior from prior scarcity. Those who entered the system had to fight to get in and in replicating that same fight, they unknowingly reinforce walls that keep brilliance out. The real tragedy? We do not know the potential we are losing. That’s the leakage no statistic can capture.
But examples from elsewhere can remind us what is possible.
Rwanda often referenced for its discipline is not a blueprint for governance, but a model of intentionality. Policy is felt at grassroots level. Metrics are localized. Everyone knows the national vision and feels part of it.
Singapore, a city-state with no resources, intentionally replaced performance with outcomes over 25 years. That patience built institutions.
And Estonia a country many forget exists reprogrammed its economy through digital access, bypassing traditional gatekeepers entirely.
Namibia doesn’t need to become these countries. We simply need to become more of ourselves.
Because underneath the frustration, there is beauty. This country is stunning in every sense its people, its land, its wisdom. But when we structure opportunities around who is known rather than who is capable, we don’t just hurt others we hurt ourselves.
Even those who benefit from the current systems of exclusion are losing something: circulation is a multiplier. When wealth and opportunity move through many hands, everyone gains. A rising tide, yes but only if the harbor is open.
So what now?
We start where we are.
• Reframe procurement to encourage activation not just delivery.
• Publicly reward those who multiply impact, not just those who comply.
• Audit policy implementation through the lens of circulation, not completion.
• Celebrate gate-openers, not just gatekeepers.
And we do all this without shame, without insult, without ego.
Namibia is brilliant. The question is will we choose to circulate that brilliance? Will we move from policy to activation? Will we see one another not as competition, but as collaborators?
Because if we do if we begin to unlock our systems from within Namibia will not only attract the world’s attention. We will finally begin to sustain it.
