The relation between Kenya and Namibia dates back to latter’s self determination struggles when Kenya gifted the SWAPO liberation movement a land rover to facilitate their transportation needs.
Between 1989 -1990 Kenya was among the three military contributing countries under the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) to help in Namibia’s transition to a Sovereign nation. The Deputy Force Commander was Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Daniel Ishmael Opande. Upon Namibia’s independence on 21st March 1990, and end of UNTAG’s mandate, the Kenyan contingent remained behind for another 9 months to assist with the establishment of the Namibian Defence Force. This was after a request from the nation’s founding Father and President Sam Nuyoma. In December 2021, His Excellence President, Hage Geingob conferred Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class medal to Lt. gen. (Rtd) Opande in recognition of his and kenyan military efforts in namibia’s liberation struggles.
Out of this special relationship, many skilled Kenyans were able to migrate and work in Namibia since 1990. Some are still living in Namibia having been fully integrated with the nationals of the country. Currently, there many Kenyan professionals working across Namibia’s both public and private sectors.
These relations have remained invigorated through exchanges of high-level state visits, for instance His Excellence, President Hage Geingob made state visit to Kenya in October 2018 and reciprocated visit from former President Uhuru Kenyatta was in March 2019. There have been regular exchanges of visits at Ministerial levels, Parliamentary as well as Judiciary to learn from each other’s areas of strengths.
