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Oil pacts secrecy dangerous for Uganda. |
As Uganda carries out the drilling of oil in the Albertine graben, oil contracts between the government and oil companies still remain a secret. Tullow oil and Heritage oil companies explored 15 wells in the lake Albertine basin of Uganda with 100% success rate and the reserves in the area now stand at 600 million barrels of oil equivalent, said Tullow chief executive director Aidan Heavy.
The government has however refused to disclose the production sharing agreements they signed way back in 2001 with the oil companies for public scrutiny and debate saying there are confidentiality clauses barring parties from disclosing it. It is stated by the World Resources Institute, “Unless citizens find out what their governments are doing and how they spend their funds, governments have little incentive to improve performance, deliver on the promises or even provide basic services of adequate levels.”
The ministry of energy and mineral development asserted that the country would receive 70% of all the revenue generated during the oil production period, the assertions cannot be verified independently because up to date when the drilling is taking place, the agreements have not been released to the public. On 17th June 2009,the members of East African legislative Assembly (EALA), a regional body responsible for the governance of natural resources in East Africa went to Kaiso-Tonya Hoima district together with Civil Society Organisations like Africa Institute for Energy Governance, National Association for Professional Environmentalists, Anti- corruption coalition Uganda and the members of the media to visit oil areas under Tullow oil company but were denied access to the Tullow drilling sites by the Petroleum Exploration Production Department.
The denial of accessibility to the Tullow drilling oil sites indicated lack of transparency and accountability in the extractive oil industry which predicts oil curse for Uganda. This did not only indicate lack of transparency and accountability in the extractive industry of Uganda but also the violation of human rights according to the constitution of Uganda.
According to article 41of the 1995 constitution of Uganda, citizens have a right to information in the hands of the government unless an exception is shown. In this respect therefore, there was no justifiable reason whatsoever to guarantee the government powers to mistreat and deny citizens a right to visit Tullow’s sites to get first hand information.
Failure to disclose the revenue and production sharing agreements creates suspicion, however good the projects are”, explains Frank Muramuzi, the executive director of the National Association for professional Environmentalists. There is a need to disclose the agreements sine the government has always claimed that the oil deals contain the basic terms for Ugandans.
It is important to monitor how governments handle information about new oil discoveries and the subsequent allocation of proceeds once the oil is commercially exploited”, says Aidan Heavy, Tullow chief executive director.
Uganda is ranked the third most corrupt country in the world according to the latest transparency survey report by the transparency international. Uganda is losing US$300m per year through corruption which is facilitated by high levels of secrecy that have become the norm in all government transactions. Releasing the contracts will enhance the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Industries which the government has committed to participating in according to the 2008 oil and gas policy.
By Sarah Akankwasa
Programme assistant
Africa Institute for Energy Governance
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