I ordered minister to sign oil agreement - Museveni
Feb 07, 2012
President Yoweri Museveni has revealed that he ordered the Minister of Energy to sign the agreement with Tullow Oil last week.
By Raymond Baguma, John Thawite and John Nzinjah
President Yoweri Museveni has revealed that he ordered the Minister of Energy to sign the agreement with Tullow Oil last week.
On Friday, Tullow Oil signed two production-sharing agreements with Uganda, allowing it to complete a deal with Chinese group CNOOC and French company Total that will pave the way for commercial oil production.
Tullow Oil is expected to sell part of its stake to the two companies at $2.9b.
While speaking during the Tarehe Sita celebrations in Kasese yesterday, President Museveni recounted what had taken place before the signing of the deal.
The surprise signing of the agreement between Tullow Oil and the Government an¬gered a section of MPs and civil society organisations that wanted to block it.
Energy minister Irene Mu¬loni, has since come under fire from some MPs.
President Museveni yes¬terday said the Government would not allow any further delays of development of the country’s petroleum industry as well as plans to develop more dams for electricity generation.
In an apparent response to attacks on his energy min¬ister, Museveni said some people, whom he did not name, had prepared to go to court on Friday afternoon to stop the signing of the oil agreement.
The President was chief guest at celebrations to mark 31 anniversary of the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF). The event took place at Nyakasinga playground in Kasese town.
The day commonly referred to as Tarehe Sita was held under the theme: “Regional co-operation in security for sustainable na¬tional and regional develop¬ment.”
President Museveni said that upon coming to power in 1986, the new NRM gov¬ernment lacked money and depended on foreign aid to fund critical sectors of the economy such as the energy.
He pointed out that Ugan¬da experienced a shortage of electricity because the Government did not have money to fund the energy sector.
Museveni said over the years, the Government revenue collection has im¬proved to sh6 trillion, having risen from a paltry sh5b that was being collected in 1986 when NRM came to power.
He added that the Govern¬ment has become financially self-sufficient and embarked on developments such as construction of the Buja¬gali power dam whose first turbine has started generat¬ing power.