Uganda Moves Closer to Transparency in Oil Sector with Attorney General’s Green Light
By The Public Lens
The Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, has given the Ugandan government the go-ahead to disclose international oil contracts to the public, marking a significant step towards transparency in the oil and mining sectors.
In a letter dated July 2, 2024, Kiwanuka advised Finance Minister Matia Kasaija that he may disclose the production sharing agreements (PSAs) if he deems it appropriate.
This guidance was in response to a letter from Kasaija dated June 1, 2024, and specifically pertains to contracts with TotalEnergies Uganda and CNOOC Uganda Limited.
Kiwanuka cited letters from these companies, dated July 18, 2021, and November 29, 2021, respectively, which confirmed their consent to the disclosure of their PSAs to fulfill the requirements of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) standard 2.4.
However, Kiwanuka’s advice is silent on contracts signed with other companies involved in oil exploration in the Albertine area, including DGR Energy Turaco Uganda SMC Limited, Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), and Nigeria’s Oranto.
Uganda has been a member of the EITI since August 2020, committing to contract transparency by publicly disclosing the full text of agreements governing the exploitation of oil, gas, and mineral resources.
EITI executive director Mark Robinson visited Uganda to assess the country’s progress in ensuring transparency in the oil, gas, and minerals sectors.
Robinson met with the minister of Finance, Matia Kasaijja, and his officers, and discussed the progress in ensuring public disclosure of contracts under the extractive sector.
He also met officers from the Attorney General’s office and key industry players like TotalEnergies and members of the civil society under multi-stakeholder groups (MSGs) hosted at the Uganda EITI secretariat under the ministry of Finance.
Robinson told journalists that his team found it striking that all stakeholders in Uganda were committed to the EITI process.
“The EITI seemed to have carved out open space in Uganda for genuine, free, and open debate on these complex issues around the extractive industry,” he said.
Robinson’s visit follows the validation report on Uganda, whose results were released in May 2024.
The EITI board said Uganda had achieved a moderate score in implementing the 2019 EITI Standard at 78.5 points.
On the transparency component, Uganda achieved a fairly low score of 67.5 points.
Robinson raised some of these issues during his meeting with the minister, including how contracts could be made more open to the public.
“He was very receptive. For example, how can contracts further be made open to the public? So there is a process to move towards that goal,” he said.
Robinson also discussed making public the audited accounts of Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC).
“He was very receptive to that idea. So I was very struck by their receptivity and recognition from the government to respond positively to some of the recommendations,” added Robinson.
Sources who attended the meeting with the minister said he asked his visitors about what Uganda would gain from its participation with EITI.
Robinson said the minister’s question was good because it reconfirmed why Uganda signed up to the EITI.
The EITI board had reported that there had been little progress on full disclosures of contracts in the oil sector despite Uganda EITI’s (UGEITI) efforts.
Robinson emphasized the need for Uganda to demonstrate real progress in making contracts public across the entire sector, not just with TotalEnergies and CNOOC.
He also called for the creation of a public registry of beneficial owners in the oil, gas, and mining sectors and the reconciliation of discrepancies in gold production data.
“The fourth one is to reconcile some of the discrepancies in the mining data, especially gold production,” added Robinson.
Gold, one of Uganda’s major minerals, has been a focal point due to its significant revenue potential.
A recent UN report highlighted Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi as key transit routes for gold smuggled from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to Dubai.
In Uganda, discrepancies have been noted between gold production figures reported by the Bank of Uganda and those declared by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) customs.
David Sserwadda, a senior mining inspector and a member of the Uganda EITI Multisector Group, said there is an effort to ensure that different agencies of the government don’t regulate gold exports.
Uganda has to close some of these gaps before the next EITI board validation commencing on July 1, 2026.
