Oil contracts in Uganda do not provide enforceable protection standards regarding the environment or the human rights of Ugandan citizens, relying on the oil companies to operate reasonably and altruistically. In this context, it is clear that extracting the oil discovered in the Albertine Graben is highly unlikely to bring overall benefits in terms of economic development, let alone environmental protection or human rights to the region. The Ugandan government and companies have repeatedly criticised comparisons with Nigeria, Angola, Ecuador or other oil producing countries in the global south, asking why the focus is on those countries with negative social & economic outcomes from oil. Yet despite their promises of corporate responsibility, the oil companies%u2019 foremost legal responsibility is to maximize profits for their shareholders %u2013 other commitments can be sacrificed to achieve this. This is made explicit in Heritage%u2019s 2008 Prospectus to potential shareholders. The failure of the contracts to protect Uganda is compounded in that national law and oil policies do not currently provide %u201Cenough specific and enforceable obligations to promote responsible regulation of [the oil & gas] sector, especially with regard to protection of the environment. While the government claims that it will present a %u201Cnew oil law%u201D to parliament imminently, there is as yet no sign of it. Current negotiations over development plans with the oil companies continue to place the cart before the horse.
It is alleged by the Observer; a Uganda Newspaper in a story run on February 8, 2010; "
Deal tilted in favour of oil companies.
Contract could make Uganda poorer" The 40-page report titled: Contracts Curse: Uganda%u2019s Oil Agreements Place Profit Before People, that extensively quotes the agreements the government has kept under wraps, reveals that oil firms will reap extra-ordinary profits. The report by PLATFORM, a London-based organization, says that as a result of this, extraction of millions of barrels of crude oil on Block 3A is most likely going to exacerbate poverty, increase human rights violations, entrench the power of military forces and distort the Ugandan economy.
Don't you think a petition to the Government of Uganda over this matter is rightly placed now?
The matter has a new twist when a Member of Parliament for Mbarara Municipality; John Arimpa Kigyagi says that the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources received copies of the oil sharing agreements but are barred by a confidentiality clause to release the information to the public; while the New Vision newspaper of Friday, 5th March 2010 reports that, "yet another company in the name of Dominion Petroleum, a UK firm exploring for oil and gas in Kanungu and Rukungiri districts is to sell $50million to raise funds for its drilling campaign."
The above developments call for greater transparency by the Government of Uganda. It is not clear why an organ of the Government of Uganda; Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) does not handle the transaction.
