Pamoya Beta

STATEMENT-PWYP-UGANDA/BUNYORO CHAPTER, RIVEIRA HOTEL, 17TH FEB, 2010.

We, representatives of publish what you
pay-Uganda/Bunyoro sub group and civil society
from Bunyoro region meeting in Hoima on 17th
February 2010 at the workshop organized by the
PWYP-Uganda and Africa Institute for Energy
Governance, aimed at strengthening local
partnersÂ' research and advocacy campaign for
greater transparency and accountability in the
management of oil resources and revenues in UgandaÂ":
· Discussed and reviewed the importance
of transparency and good governance at various
stages of extractive industries development
ranging from the decision to extract, to revenue
generation and allocation in the national budget,
and follow-up on how these revenues are used for the good of our people;
· Reflected on the level of corruption in
both local governments and central government;
· Shared experiences about good practices
of oil governance with a view to greater synergy
and strengthening of our advocacy at all levels in our respective communities;
· Agreed that openness and governance are
essential for accountability and effective
management of extractive revenues geared to wards
poverty reduction and sustainable development in our region and our country;
· Discussed the challenge of exploiting
oil in gazetted areas such as game reserves,
forest reserves, lakes, rivers and other trust areas;
· Agreed that both government and oil
companies currently donÂ't recognize peopleÂ's
rights to land under customary or communal ownership;
· Recognized the unfairness in the current compensation processes;
· Recognized that the absence of a policy
on CSR will cause future problems especially on
sustaining the CSR initiatives by oil companies;
· Recognized the inseparable link between
economic governance and importance of an open
debate and frank dialogue over the management of
natural resources between the government,
extractive companies and civil society; and
· Emphasized the need for us as civil
society activists to play our role as watchdogs
with out fear, threats or harassment from government and companies.

We believe and emphasize that PWYP campaign and
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
(EITI) are fundamental processes for establishing
a culture of transparency, accountability and
good gorvance in general in UgandaÂ's extractive
industry for social and economic development. In
light of our observations and discussions above, we recommend as follows:

1. Governments of Uganda should:

· In line with Objective VI of our
National Oil and Gas policy 2008, the government
should adopt and effectively implement EITI for
transparency and accountability in the country;
· Adopt the EITI process to the needs of
our country, especially taking into account the
need to stop the current high level corruption in
government, and in particular encourage the
disclosure of information contained in the various oil agreements;
· Set up institutional and legal
mechanisms capable of expanding transparency
to transparency of contracts and future revenue payments;
· Establish national laws on transparency
of extractive transactions including company to
company, company to government, licensing, PSAs
negotiations and effectively implement existing
laws and policies on access to information;
· Formulate and enact policies and laws
which emphasize local content, taking into
consideration criteria for human resource
development through training, national ownership
of the oil resources, efficiency, transparency and good governance;
· License only companies which have good
environmental conservation records even if the
financial offers are not the best,
· Ensure effective and timely
compensation by involving the affected
communities in determining compensation rates in
all cases which require compensation;
· Respect land rights of
communities/people irrespective of whether the
land is owned as mail-hold, freehold, leasehold
or under customary/communal ownership. Communal
land rights of communities should be respected.
· Educate, sensitize and give communities
enough information on oil development processes
including information on environment, revenues to
increase community participation in development;
· Local communities in Bunyoro are
already being affected by effects of oil
activities and may continue to be affected and as
such, they should get a specific share of the oil
revenues and this should be put in the laws and policies;
· Avoid conducting oil activities in
sensitive areas of national game reserves and
forest reserves, Lakes, Rivers and othersÂ' and
· Conduct public hearings for all oil
related Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)
and make public the environmental strategic management plan.

2. We call upon our partners to:
· Support capacity building of civil
society, especially those in the oil rich areas
for increased research and advocacy for socio-economic development;

3. Oil companies should:
Abandon confidentiality clauses and support the
disclosure of contracts to ensure transparency
and accountability in UgandaÂ's oil sector; and
Respect environmental, culture and local
community standards in place at all level of society.

4. As civil society in the oil areas, we should:

· Work with national and international
organization to strengthen our research and
advocacy work on environmental monitoring and conservation;
· Monitor activities of companies and
report wrong doings to authorities;
· Strengthen work on budget monitoring;
· Increase advocacy for access to information;
· Continue campaigning for the adoption
and implementation of EITI in Uganda;
· Set up a monitoring committee to
monitor the implementation of mitigation measures provided for in various EIAs;

Signed by:
1. Isaac Biruja-Executive
Director-BIRUDO-BULIISA and Chairman, PWYP-Uganda-Bunyoro Group.

2. Dickens Kamugisha-CEO-AFIEGO and National Coordinator, PWYP-Uganda.

Regards,
Doreen Katusiime
Program Assistant
Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO)
Plot 90, Kanjokya House, Kanjokya Street.