Namibia stands at a rare crossroads. The recent offshore petroleum discoveries have placed the country on the global energy map, raising hopes of jobs, revenue, and long term development. At the same time, parliament has tabled amendments to the petroleum law intended to govern this new era. Both developments matter.
The petroleum amendment bill deserves careful pause, deeper public engagement, and clearer justification before it is rushed into law.
Namibia’s offshore discoveries have been described as potentially world class. Exploration success has attracted major international companies, renewed investor confidence, and sparked public optimism about economic transformation. For a country facing unemployment, inequality, and fiscal pressure, hydrocarbons appear to offer a lifeline.
But history, both in Africa and globally shows that natural resources do not automatically translate into national prosperity. Outcomes depend on governance, how licences are awarded, how revenues are shared, how environmental risks are managed, and how future generations are protected. In this sense, petroleum is less about geology and more about institutions.
When the bill was tabled on 4 February, minister of industries, mines and energy Modestus Amutse said the bill seeks to modernise and strengthen the Petroleum Act of 1991, enhance institutional capacity, ensure regulatory clarity, and align Namibia’s petroleum governance with international best practice while maintaining accountability to parliament and the public.
The bill proposes the establishment of an Upstream Petroleum Unit to be housed in the Office of the President, headed by a director general and their deputy. Amutse said this is to consolidate technical regulation, licencing, compliance, and oversight within a single professional authority capable of managing a rapidly growing petroleum sector. The bill also introduces expanded conflict of interest provisions, requiring senior officials and staff to disclose assets and interests, with penalties for breaches.
These objectives, modernisation, transparency, and professional regulation, are legitimate and necessary. However, the manner in which these reforms are structured raises important constitutional and governance questions that cannot be ignored.
The bill is being advanced in a context of urgency. The government understandably wants a modern legal framework that reflects the new realities of offshore production, local participation, and state benefit. However, speed carries risks.
Several key questions remain insufficiently clarified in the public domain:
How will Namibia attract investment while securing fair, transparent, and stable long-term returns?
What will “Namibian participation” actually deliver? Real skills and ownership, or token local partners?
Do regulators have the capacity, independence, and resources to oversee complex offshore operations?
Are environmental safeguards, liability rules, and emergency response plans clear and enforceable?
How will petroleum revenues be saved, invested, and shared to benefit both current and future Namibians?
When these questions are not convincingly answered, legislation risks being perceived as serving short term interests rather than a national vision.
PARLIAMENT’S WARNING, LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE
Recent contributions in parliament underline why caution is necessary. One of the most compelling interventions came from McHenry Veenani, who warned against legislating for individuals or political moments rather than for the nation and future generations.
Veenani reminded parliament that systems, institutions, and processes must remain stronger than personalities. He cautioned that concentrating decision-making power particularly by shifting authority from ministries and the Cabinet to the Presidency risks weakening accountability and undermining the constitutional balance of power. He explicitly drew lessons from Namibia’s own past, including the Marine Resources Act and the Fishrot scandal, where excessive discretionary power enabled abuse rather than national benefit.
He further warned that Namibia is navigating uncharted territory in offshore petroleum governance, noting that few countries have centralised upstream petroleum authority at the level now being proposed and that those who have done so, such as Russia, offer cautionary rather than reassuring examples. His appeal was simple but profound: modernisation must move with the people and with institutions, not be tailored to suit any one leader, however well intentioned.
TRUST, CONSULTATION, AND LEGITAMACY
Public trust is a strategic asset. In resource governance, legitimacy matters as much as legality. While parliament is empowered to pass laws, broad consultation strengthens outcomes. Civil society, legal experts, environmental specialists, youth, and coastal communities all have stakes in petroleum development.
A pause to deepen consultation is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of confidence. Countries that have managed natural resources well through sovereign wealth funds, clear fiscal rules, and strong oversight did so by resisting haste and investing in consensus.
Namibia’s petroleum moment arrives during a global energy transition. Oil and gas remain relevant, but markets are changing. Long term demand uncertainty, climate commitments, and investor scrutiny mean that petroleum laws must be resilient, flexible, and forward looking.
Rushing legislation that may need repeated amendment could undermine stability. Investors value predictability, but citizens value fairness. The law must deliver both.
A CALL FOR STRATEGIC PATIENCE
Pausing the bill does not mean abandoning reform, it means choosing wisdom over haste. It means articulating its intentions clearly, justifying its choices convincingly, and aligning it with a coherent national development strategy.
Namibia has an opportunity many nations never get: to design its petroleum governance before production begins in earnest. That opportunity should not be diluted by urgency or political timelines.
Patience, in this moment, is not delay. It is leadership.
Laws live well beyond their authors.
- Tangi Amupanda is a third-year media studies student at Triumphant College.
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