An Exploratory Study Into Nampower As A Foreign Policy Actor 1990-2010

ABSTRACT

The Namibian economic development aspirations place a high premium on energy security in general and electricity supply in particular. At the same time, Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) is highly engaged in the regional electricity market both bilaterally and multilaterally. However, there seems to be a dearth of knowledge on the nexus between the two situations, specifically how the various bilateral and multilateral agreements shape the corporation’s actual operations and strategic plans. This study, therefore, explores Namibia’s energy situation under a construct of NamPower as a foreign policy actor in order to answer the question of why and how NamPower acts in support of Namibia’s foreign policy through its energy diplomacy.

The research design is qualitative and exploratory. The population of the study is the stakeholders who are involved in the energy sector. Pursuant to the fact, the study harnesses a case study that seeks to explore the role of NamPower as foreign policy player. A purposive sampling method remains indispensable in this research with key informants drawn from NamPower, the Office of the Prime, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Electricity Control Board of Namibia and other energy experts.

The study reveals that Namibia, through its national power utility (NamPower) has been highly successful in ensuring a constant, reliable and comparatively affordable electricity supplies while its domestic energy generation, as a percentage of demand, has been

declining in the first two decades since independence. The use of NamPower, while recognizable as a soft power strategy is deeply embedded within a regional environment characterized by a considerably high sense of inter-subjective and normative growth within SADC as exemplified by its creation of the Southern African Power Pool to oversee an institution of common energy market for regional economic development. To this extent, the phenomenon accounts for more than the liberalist conception of soft power can muster.

In addition, the study discovers that while it may appear to act autonomously, NamPower is embedded within a national regulatory environment that defines its radius of action, priorities and makes the environment conducive for NamPower’s engagement with the various entities within the regional and international energy markets, through the memoranda of agreement that Namibia signs ab initio.

Conversely, while Namibia has benefitted from these regional electricity arrangements, it still has to exploit its competitive advantage by developing its renewable energy resources in order to hedge energy security into the future and to address the conditions of energy poverty within the Namibian population. This can also carry an added benefit of entrenching Namibia’s social standing as a key player in the regional economic development agenda of SADC.