Mary Karugaba
1 July 2009
Kampala — THE Government should be transparent on issues of oil resources to avoid suspicion, visiting Norwegian officials have advised.
Appearing before the finance committee on Tuesday, the delegation warned that if there is no transparency from the beginning, the discovery could easily become a curse.
Eken Ole Petrad, an international advisor on oil, said the Government and the oil companies should publicise all information.
He added that Uganda should adhere to the procedures set out in the International Extractive Industry Agreement, a pact that binds countries to transparency measures.
A senior adviser in the Norwegian finance ministry, Semin Bjornerud, advised the Government to set up an administration to advise the politicians on oil issues. He also proposed that once production has started, the Government should avoid spending all the money at once.
He noted that poor absorption of oil resources by the economy could lead to inflation, adding that spending oil resources on political projects would not benefit the population. The officials were reacting to remarks by MPs that they did not know the developments in the oil sector.
The delegation is in the country to sensitise officials in key government institutions on oil resource management.
Rose Akol (NRM) said the legislators had neither seen the oil agreement, nor did they know the developments in the sector.
"We have no idea of what is going on. We cannot even propose change because most the agreements have been signed and are binding. It is a challenge," Akol lamented.
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