Religious Leaders under the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda on Tuesday presented their views on the on-going oil debate, calling on Members of Parliament to make laws that will guarantee fairness and transparency in the exploration and final processing of the oil resources in the country.
The religious leaders, led by Gulu Archbishop, John Baptist Odama, who is the Chairman of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda Committee on Peace, Justice and Governance, said that the powers of the Minister on Petroleum Activities were excessive and need to be reduced. They said that some of the powers proposed for the minister should instead be transferred to parliament.
The religious leaders came to parliament to present their views on the two bills on petroleum exploration and extraction. The bills are the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill 2012 and the Petroleum (Refining, Gas Processing and Conversion, Transportation and Storage) bill 2012.
Archbishop Odama said that the Minister’s powers to grant and revoke licenses, approve field plans, issue regulations, negotiate and endorse petroleum agreements and appoint members of the Authority, were too much to lay in the hands of an individual. They said they would trust those powers in the hands of an institution such as parliament instead.
The religious leaders proposed that Oil licenses should be approved by Cabinet and ratified by Parliament. They said that an independent authority would ensure professionalism and competition in the sector, leading to better management and resource utilization.
The Odama team also took issue with the proposal that the minister should appoint members of the Authority and determine their remuneration. They said that this would undermine the independence of the Authority because the temptation will be for those members to pay more allegiance to the Minister instead of the country.
Other suggestions that the religious leaders made to the Natural Resources Committee included a proposal that the new oil law should provide for a just and equal treatment of Ugandans in recruitment, remuneration and safety, in line with the current labor and other Ugandan laws.
They also proposed that the new law should provide for safety and protection of workers who detect and report to government inappropriate conduct by oil companies, such as repatriation of capital contrary to existing Ugandan laws, illegal dumping practices and mistreatment of nationals working within the Authority.
They said that in line with Article 41 of the Constitution on Access to Information, the clauses that limit accessing of Information should be removed from the new law.
In responding to the religious leaders’ proposals, the Parliamentary Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Michael Werikhe said that they were critical and would be considered for adoption in the main debate.
Werikhe said that when the report is finally done by the committee for the final debate by the house, they would consider the Ugandan population at heart.
The committee assured the religious leaders that they would not let their views down.
