12 Facts About Theo-Ben Gurirab

Theo-Ben Gurirab was a Namibian politician who served in various senior government positions.

Theo-Ben Gurirab served as the second prime minister of Namibia from 28 August 2002 to 20 March 2005, following the demotion and subsequent resignation of Hage Geingob.

Theo-Ben Gurirab was Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2005 to 2015, when he was replaced by Peter Katjavivi.

Theo-Ben Gurirab fled first to Tanganyika, where he won a United Nations study fellowship and relocated to the United States.

Theo-Ben Gurirab was Associate Representative of the SWAPO Mission to the United Nations and the United States from 1964 to 1972, then Head of the SWAPO Mission to the United Nations from 1972 to 1986.

Theo-Ben Gurirab was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, immediately before independence, and the "key drafter" of Namibia's Constitution.

Theo-Ben Gurirab was Minister of Foreign Affairs from independence in 1990 until he was appointed as prime minister by President Sam Nujoma on 27 August 2002, replacing Hage Geingob.

Theo-Ben Gurirab was again one of the highest-scoring candidates in the election to the Central Committee at SWAPO's November 2007 congress.

From 2008 to 2011, Theo-Ben Gurirab was the president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international organization of parliaments of sovereign states.

Theo-Ben Gurirab was re-elected to the National Assembly in the November 2009 parliamentary election, in which SWAPO retained a large majority of seats.

In late August 2014, when SWAPO chose its list of parliamentary candidates for the November 2014 general election, Theo-Ben Gurirab was not on the list.

Theo-Ben Gurirab died at a Windhoek hospital on 14 July 2018 of natural causes.