Staff Reporter
THE Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo, has urged the public to continue to fight corruption in the petroleum sector, but to do so with integrity and honesty, and not in a manner that is tantamount to character assassination.
He made these remarks while delivering a ministerial statement in Parliament, where he addressed allegations that he corruptly awarded Titan Oil and Gas petroleum licenses due to his acquaintance with one of the company’s shareholders. According to him, such allegations are unfounded.
“It has now transpired that one of the shareholders of Titan is someone known to me, and hence the allegation of corruption against me. It is, however, absurd to assume that just because a person is known to the Minister or is a friend of the Minister, his or her participation is solely on account of the Minister’s influence,” the minister said.
Highlighting his track record, Alweendo underscored his consistent stance against corruption and advocacy for good governance throughout his extensive professional tenure.
“As an example, the Bank of Namibia, where I spent 16 years of my career at the helm of the institution, is today the epitome of good governance, with zero tolerance for corruption. Hon. Speaker, my detest for corruption has not changed, and it is not about to change. Therefore, the allegations of corruption on my part are vehemently and unambiguously rejected,” he said.
Alweendo’s full ministerial statement can be read below:
“Hon. Speaker
Hon. Members
Hon. Speaker, I would like to make a Ministerial Statement on a subject matter that I believe needs to be addressed urgently and factually. On Wednesday of last week, Hon. Henny Seibeb posed a question to me in connection with potential corruption practices in awarding petroleum exploration licenses, a question that I much appreciated.
As I was preparing to formulate an answer, little did I know that the same exact accusations were being made on social media platforms. Ordinarily, I do not respond to issues raised on social media platforms. However, given the severity of what is being alleged, I decided to address the issue using this platform.
The assertion is that I have corruptly awarded an oil exploration license to a company owned by someone who is my friend, indeed a serious allegation. I sincerely thank those that are courageous enough to call out corruption, especially when committed by those of us in positions of power and influence. We know of horrendous stories of corruption around the world that are connected to the exploitation of natural resources, especially so in the oil sector.
It is therefore required of all of us to be always alert and do everything necessary to guard against similar abuses and malfeasance in our nascent oil and gas sector. And now is the right time to do so while we are still at an early stage of the development cycle. However, when doing so, let us be circumspect; let us be weary of making spurious claims, lest we create unintended consequences. It is not good enough to advance our personal opinions or value judgments about who is corrupt as proven facts of the existence of corruption.
It is counterproductive and making fighting corruption ineffective. It is said that, if we cry wolf too often, people will stop believing us.
Hon Speaker, I need to inform this august House and the Namibian people at large that, as per the provisions of S 11 of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act, the Minister does not receive any application for petroleum licence but rather the Petroleum Commissioner.
Therefore, all applications for oil and gas licenses are received by the Petroleum Commissioner. In this respect, it is the Petroleum Commissioner who receives, evaluate, and then recommends to the Minister to either award or reject an application.
To minimize the risk of collusion between the Minister and the Commissioner, we have instituted a Licensing Evaluation Committee to assist the Commissioner. The Committee consists of officials from the Petroleum Department, and it is chaired by the Commissioner. As an added measure of checks and balances, the Committee makes its recommendations to the Minister through the Executive Director. Hon Speaker, under normal circumstances, the process I just described is such that the Minister is not able to know who has applied until a recommendation is made to him or her.
To directly address the allegations, the following are the facts. Titan Oil and Gas is a Namibian registered company, and it has a minority participating interest in two petroleum exploration licenses, namely PEL98 and PEL 106. In addition, Namcor also has a minority participating interest in the two licenses. PEL98 was awarded in February 2021 to Eco Oil and Gas Services, a Namibian-registered company; while PEL 106 was awarded in December 2022 to Oranto Petroleum, a Nigerian-registered company. It is therefore important to point out that the applicants in both licenses were not Titan, but Eco Oil and Gas in the case of PEL98 and Oranto Petroleum in the case of PEL 106. Hence the licenses were awarded to Eco Oil and Oranto Petroleum, and not to Titan as being alleged.
In both cases, the award was made to the applicants after the applications were handled in exactly the same manner and process as I explained above. The Licensing Evaluation Committee evaluated the applications and found it worthy of awarding the two licenses and made its recommendation accordingly.
I also need to explain how local companies do participate in the sector. We all know that petroleum exploration is a highly capital-intensive process and as such, most local companies are not able to raise the funds needed to carry out exploration on their own. Therefore, we encourage local companies to enter into joint ventures with foreign companies with the requisite capability when applying for petroleum exploration licenses. How to identify joint venture partners is entirely left to the local companies.
It now so transpired that one of the shareholders of Titan is someone known to me, and hence the allegation of corruption against me. It is, however, an absurdity to assume that just because a person is known to the Minister or is a friend to the Minister, his or her participation is only on account of the Minister’s meddling influence.
Throughout my long professional career, I always spoke out against corruption and promoted good governance. As an example, the Bank of Namibia where I spent 16 years of my career at the helm of the institution, is today the epitome of good governance, where there is zero tolerance for corruption. Hon. Speaker, my detest for corruption has not changed, and it is not about to change. Therefore, the allegations of corruption on my part are vehemently and unambiguously rejected.
As I have stated on several previous occasions, corruption in all its manifestations is abhorrent, it is repugnant and must be rejected by all of us, regardless of who is involved in it. Let us all join forces to ensure that our nascent petroleum sector is managed honourably, such that the economic benefits accrue to all Namibians fairly and equitably. Let us all fight corruption in its various forms and at all costs avoid crony capitalism. Let us, however, do so with integrity and honesty, and not in a manner that is tantamount to character assassination.
I thank you, Hon. Speaker.”
