UGANDA PEOPLES CONGRESS
NATIONAL SECRETARIAT
Plots-10 Kampala Road, Uganda House, P.O. Box 37047 , Kampala Phone/Fax:
+256-41- 236748
PRESS STATEMENT
(Embargoed for release at 11.00 am 8th August 2007)
TIME TO OPEN THE OIL DEBATE
1. The Uganda Peoples Congress expressed its concerns on the political and
economic management of oil resources on the 12th July 2006.
2. The UPC was and is still concerned about the oil exploration and the
production sharing agreement that the government entered into with various oil
prospecting companies.
3. It was our recommendation that a Uganda Petroleum Commission be
established to :
(i) Study how oil is managed in other oil producing countries
and recommend policies to the government.
(ii) Engage all citizens in open and constructive debate
pertaining to the exploration and management of oil revenues.
(iii)Engage NEMA and other environmental bodies to study
the environmental impact of the oil exploration and avoid
environmental disasters being experienced by other oil
producing countries.
4. The NRM government has so far not heeded our advice. This intransigency is
beginning to yield adverse consequences both internally and externally.
Ø Internally, the people within the affected districts are continuing to
agitate for a negotiated share of the prospective oil wealth in the face of
uncaring and unresponsive government. The people in these areas have been
tempted to resort to violence in order to settle land disputes especially with
persons outside the District and they believe that these "intruders" are
facilitated by the government as an advance team to occupy and exploit the oil
rich land.
5. The prospecting for oil has landed the country into an international
conflict with Democratic Republic of Congo which has led to a bloody
confrontation where lives have been lost. President Museveni has been reported
to have entered into a joint oil venture with Malaysian Prime Minister without
any policy and legislative frame work guiding him in terms of contractual
obligations.
6. The government as reported in the New Vision of 8th August 2007 claims that
they have a draft oil policy in the offing and that the policy addresses
several stages of exploration and managing oil resources. This raises several
questions:
(i) Where is the draft oil policy if it exists? UPC challenges
the government to produce the draft policy.
(ii) What policy guidelines are President Museveni and his
government currently following in explorations and managing of oil resources?
Who has been issuing licenses to the prospecting companies?
(iii) What is the legal status of the current oil exploration
companies?
7. As long as there are no openly debated policies and legislations regarding
the prospecting for oil production, marketing of oil and the sharing of oil
revenues, there is bound to be economic, social and political conflict
resulting from the scramble for oil contracts. These tensions and conflicts
will not only engulf Uganda and prospecting companies who have signed oil
exploration without a proper legal framework in place but will spill over the
countries that neighbor and share the oil belt.
8. The UPC warns that, if the stakeholders in Uganda are not involved in
formulating the policies and legislations which involves the people of Uganda
in the management of oil resources is then, the symbolic national prayers meant
to thank God for the gift of oil resources and which are intended to be an
annual event will turn out prayers to mourn the disasters that oil would have
brought to our motherland.
9.The Uganda Peoples Congress calls upon the people of Uganda to join it in its
demand for an open and publicly debated oil resources policy and legislations
that will lead to the formation of an inclusive Uganda Petroleum Commission to
manage our oil resources for all the people of Uganda and posterity.
For God and My Country
Mama Miria Kalule Obote
President, Uganda Peoples Congress
Notes for Editors
-More information on UPC and these specific matters can be found in our website
at www.upcparty.net
-We actively encourage you to visit the President's Corner and in particular
access 'Notes on Concealment of Genocide in Uganda
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