By: Dwight Links
Forming part of the main talking points at the recently held Eco-Dialogue, queries on the difficulty of obtaining information on oil and gas exploration activity in Namibia proved vital.
Graham Hopwood from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) highlighted that accessing information on beneficial ownership or company records for broader understanding has become difficult in recent years.
“A couple of years back, you could request the company registration documents at BIPA to establish the ownership structure of these companies in the country, but they have changed this now and it defeats the purpose of the Access to Information legislation that was recently introduced,” explained Hopwood.
According to Hopwood, environmental governance is deemed as a key risk area for Namibia, factoring in that exploration, drilling, testing and possible extraction activities occur more than 200 kilometres (km) out at sea.
Current information around the specifics of some of the exploration activity states that this includes a distance of 3 km to the seafloor, and drilling another 3 km below the seafloor.
“This can pose a lot of issues of how we can monitor what is actually happening out at sea. There are global cases of environmental disasters associated with the oil and gas industry, like the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico,” Hopwood added.
Stefanie Busch, co-founder and vice-chairperson of the Environmental Lawyers Network of Namibia, noted that there is an overall mixed mood over Namibia’s prospect of oil ownership.
“I feel that it means that people might not know what we are getting ourselves into, but clearly this is also very exciting. What is most prevalent for me, is the Petroleum Amendment bill, as it does pose a lot of issues,” expressed Busch.
According to her, the most pertinent issue is the creation of the Petroleum Upstream Unit in the Presidency’s office.
“It places this unit above all ministries. And, it seems it is to enable faster decision-making. It can also depict a picture of this presidential unit being able to coordinate with multiple ministries on immigration and more, probably for improved coordination related to the sector,” Busch outlined.
The biggest bone of contention, according to Busch, is that of the unit’s Director-General position in relation to the Constitution.
“No provision has been made for this position in the Constitution, whereas the Parliament can call a minister to elaborate on developments. The parliament cannot do this for the director-general of the petroleum unit in the Presidency,” noted Busch.
To that, she added that currently, only the President can appoint or remove this individual based on the amendments submitted to Parliament.
Frederico Links, senior researcher from the IPPR, noted that safe-guarding public interest in the context of resources is another vital talking point for Namibia.
“Back in 2015, there was a major anti-corruption conference in the first Geingob administration, which aimed to set the tone for building integrity systems. There was already speculation and exploration taking place off-shore of the country’s coastline at the time,” indicated Links on how long the country has been championing good governance around natural resources.
Citing a quote from the resultant report on the conference, Links indicated that “Natural resource development is a business with significant public impact, and the state represents this public interest.”
This representation is further enhanced through mechanisms that aim to achieve the desired frameworks of governance.
“This is specifically done through formal oversight and regulation on activities on the natural resource landscape, including the emergent oil landscape,” Links added.
He highlighted that there are key questions to be considered in the formulation of local content policies, especially when considering how aspects such as procurement would be factored into the impending oil and gas sector.
Busch and Links both agreed on the discretionary powers that will be positioned in the presidency, which introduces concerns from civil society.
“This entity in the presidency will be free from any formal oversight, and no challenges can be made on the decision-making from this unit. It is very difficult to challenge discretionary decision-making,” added Links on the Petroleum Amendment Bill currently under review in Parliament.
