Mr. Erik Solheim

The 2013 Mining for Development Conference closed today in Sydney, Australia, with speaker after speaker emphasising the role of good political and business leadership in the sustainable exploitation of natural resources.

While speaking on the final day of the two-day event, the Chairman of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Erik Solheim, told delegates that bad governance was the main reason why some countries remained under developed, despite possessing vast amounts of mineral wealth. Read More

Delegates at the COMESA Oil and Gas Summit in Kampala. Front row (L-R): Uganda’s junior Economic Monitoring Minister, Henry Banyenzaki; Tullow Uganda President, Elly Karuhanga; and Uganda Industrial Research Institute Head, Dr. Charles Kwesiga. Fifth right is Norwegian Ambassador, Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether.

The COMESA Oil and Gas Summit opened in Kampala today, with speakers calling on the government and oil companies to recruit more Ugandans in the oil and gas industry, but also eradicate corruption. Read More

Rtd.Bishop Baker Ocholla (Photo: CM)

Ugandan delegates attending a two-day Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Implementation Conference in Kampala have expressed their worry over government’s apparent reluctance to protect oil revenues from corrupt officials.

Reacting to the opening speech by Uganda’s junior Minister for Finance in charge of investments, Hon. Aston Kajara, several Ugandan delegates observed that government had not instituted adequate measures to safe guard oil revenue, yet the Public Finance Bill would be tabled soon. Read More

Seven years of ‘Oil for Development’ aid from Norway has significantly boosted the resource management capacity of Uganda’s Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD)—but environmental management lags far behind, with serious weaknesses in the National Environment Monitoring Authority (NEMA) and its partner agencies, according to a recent evaluation of the programme.

PEPD has demonstrated “good leadership and coordination” of Norwegian aid and “effective internal organisational development,” the evaluation report observes.

The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is also praised for “good leadership so far” and “good cooperation [with] subordinate institutions” on issues relating to tax and revenue management. Read More

“Although the government of Uganda has made significant efforts to put in place fairly elaborate policy, legal and institutional mechanisms to address the environment[al] challenges of the gas and oil sector, the lack of capacity to implement these policies and enforce the corresponding laws has grossly undermined their effectiveness,” according to a recent Capacity Needs Assessment for the Environmental Pillar Institutions in Uganda conducted on behalf of the National Environment Management Authority by an independent consulting company with funding from the Norwegian goverment through their Oil for Development programme. Read More

The United States government through its donor agency U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to finance the creation of energy-management Doctorate and Master’s degree programs at Makerere University to help “current and future Ugandan professionals” and others to develop expertise “in sound environmental management and biodiversity conservation in relation to oil and gas development.” Read More

After a year-long incubation process supported by the World Bank Institute, 19 Ugandan civil society organisations this week formally established a ‘contract monitoring coalition’ that aims to involve local communities in the oversight of government-funded projects—including those related to oil—awarded to private sector contractors. Read More