EDITORIAL: The great oil debate
The debate around Namibia’s breakthrough oil find, and who ‘owns’ it, is raging like wildfire on a windy summer afternoon.
Namibians have a legitimate fear that history – which saw foreigners dominating our resources while we looked on with folded arms – will repeat itself.
We refuse to be onlookers as foreign firms battle it out in the dogfight of who can bite off the biggest chunk of that which is supposedly ours. For oil, we want a fresh start that makes both economic and legal sense.
Mines minister Tom Alweendo raises valid points in today’s edition of Namibian Sun in this respect. He argues that equity shareholding is not the only way Namibians can meaningfully benefit from oil. Beneficiation, he argues, can simply be attained through law and policies that pertain to taxes and related regimes.
To him, ownership in a volatile oil market could actually spell trouble if the government as a shareholder is obliged to make capital injections proportional to its stake. This, unfortunately, is a duty for all shareholders in a business. You cannot simply wash your hands of that responsibility because you’re the ‘owner’ of the fuel. That’s not how shareholder responsibility works.
It’s an exciting debate to have but we need to push it from social media and TV screens to boardrooms so that real solutions can be found. The bottom line is that Namibia must minimise the risk, while accruing the maximum possible benefits.
Namibians have a legitimate fear that history – which saw foreigners dominating our resources while we looked on with folded arms – will repeat itself.
We refuse to be onlookers as foreign firms battle it out in the dogfight of who can bite off the biggest chunk of that which is supposedly ours. For oil, we want a fresh start that makes both economic and legal sense.
Mines minister Tom Alweendo raises valid points in today’s edition of Namibian Sun in this respect. He argues that equity shareholding is not the only way Namibians can meaningfully benefit from oil. Beneficiation, he argues, can simply be attained through law and policies that pertain to taxes and related regimes.
To him, ownership in a volatile oil market could actually spell trouble if the government as a shareholder is obliged to make capital injections proportional to its stake. This, unfortunately, is a duty for all shareholders in a business. You cannot simply wash your hands of that responsibility because you’re the ‘owner’ of the fuel. That’s not how shareholder responsibility works.
It’s an exciting debate to have but we need to push it from social media and TV screens to boardrooms so that real solutions can be found. The bottom line is that Namibia must minimise the risk, while accruing the maximum possible benefits.
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