Opposition party members who contributed to the Petroleum Amendment Bill in the National Assembly argued that despite the Bill being presented as modernising petroleum governance, its substantive aim is to restructure and concentrate decision-making powers around the President and presidential appointees, weakening existing professional and parliamentary accountability.

AR Leader in the National Assembly, Professor Job Amupanda, stated, "Let us demonstrate how the actual content of the bill reveals a far more troubling reality. An informed and careful reading of the bill would reveal that it's actually saved for one purpose and one purpose only. Power, configuration and its institutional anchors. It is about removing powers from one functionary to another functionary."

IPC MP Lilani Brinkman cautioned Parliament that if the sector is not governed transparently and accountably, Namibia risks failing to capture the full economic benefits of its petroleum resources.

"We have a responsibility not only to the Namibians living today but also to the generations who will inherit whatever remains of this resource. The petroleum beneath our soil and waters does not belong to a particular government, a particular minister, a particular president, or a particular political party. It belongs to the people of Namibia."

"We have a responsibility not only to the Namibians living today but also to the generations who will inherit whatever remains of this resource. The petroleum beneath our soil and waters does not belong to a particular government, a particular minister, a particular president, or a particular political party. It belongs to the people of Namibia, said IPC MP Boniface Susiku.