The Civil Society Coalition on Oil and Gas (CSCO) has outlined six priorities that should be considered if the oil revenue is to benefit all Ugandans.
These include; improved action of sharing information, fiscal discipline, environmental protection, putting Ugandans first, paying attention to the Bill, and Civic space for all non-oil actors.
Addressing reporters in Kampala, the CSCO led by James Muhindo the CSCO National Coordinator said these priories should be implemented for the betterment of the economy.
“We call upon different and institutions of government to address the issues to ensure transparency, accountability and mitigate environmental destruction,” he said adding,
“The highly sought after oil and gas agreements, which remain inaccessible, there is need to make more oil and gas-related information, reports and data more available such as; the approved Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIAs) Reports for oil; Environmental Audit Reports; and Petroleum Cost Audit Reports Accessing such information“, he said will enable other stakeholders to hold the oil companies and relevant agencies accountable and facilitate third party monitoring of oil and gas developments.
He noted that the indiscipline removal of the current oil revenue from the Petroleum Fund threatens the future expenditure of the revenue.
Public Finance Management Act states the procedure for drawing revenues from the Petroleum Fund, and the sectors in which these revenues should be invested.
“On several occasions, however, both the procedure and purpose to which the revenues are put have been flouted. Such fiscal indiscipline out to not only be called out but also action taken against perpetrators,” he said.
Parliament, through its oversight and accountability role, he said must put the relevant government agencies, and oil companies to task, and ensure that the extraction of the oil and gas does not adversely affect the environment and the people in the host communities.
“Monitoring implementation of ESIAs and receiving and taking action on periodic reports from relevant agencies and ministries should be part of the work of the Natural Resources Committee of Parliament,” he said.
Cabinet recently approved three Bills namely to facilitate the developments of the sector and these include; the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Bill, 2021, Income Tax Amendment Bill, 2021; and the Public Finance Management Amendment Bill, 2021.
“We implore all MPs to review and debate these Bills judiciously, with the best interests of Ugandans at heart,” Muhindo said.
“Put the country first when it comes to Oil and Gas: Notwithstanding the political and ideological differences among the parliamentarians, we enjoin them to know that natural resource governance is a bipartisan issue. For that matter, all legislators need to treat petroleum matters as overarching issue of national importance that transcends party politics,” he said.
