The trend of disrespecting multilateralism is concerning and requires rectification, as it remains under threat.

This position is the view of Ambassador Tuliameni Kalomoh, who served as the first Namibian Ambassador to the US shortly after the country's independence in 1990. 

Kalomoh was also appointed Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Liberia. 

Namibia became part of the United Nations family in April 1990, just a month after it became independent. 

The admission was the culmination of a long, UN-led decolonisation process, finalised by the UN Transition Assistance Group overseeing fair elections and the adoption of the Namibian Constitution.

Namibia's Prime Minister at the time – the late Dr Hage Geingob – was accompanied by Ambassador Kalomoh and other government officials to the UN General Assembly to formally join the organisation that was founded in 1945.

"Accompanying the Prime Minister to the General Assembly for Namibia's admission was an important occasion for me. It was a tremendous sense of fulfilment that, finally, having raised our flag and having Sam Nujoma proclaim our independence, we were telling the world and the people of Namibia that we were forever free. And now here Hage Geingob is raising the Namibian flag in the committee of nations in the General Assembly, and it was packed. When he spoke, you could hear a pin drop; the hall was silent, and it was a very fulfilling moment for me."

Ambassador Kalomoh underscored the importance of multilateralism, which he said is under threat.

"When there was a Soviet Union, there was a balance of forces – right now, after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States became the only superpower, and with that position of the only superpower, they became arrogant."

Kalomoh said Namibia's independence was the ultimate achievement.

"We must respect one another; we must respect our constitution and our institutions. We must also respect our leaders, whom we have elected from different political parties at different levels. Independence is not easy, but there is one thing you can't take away – WE ARE FREE PEOPLE."