UNDP staff slept on job while assessing Bidco for BCtA project

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye
The United Nations Development Program’s  staff blundered when they characterized environmental risks related to Bidco as “Moderate” and indicated that Bidco was a strong candidate for membership in Business Call to Action BCtA, Part of the  Social and  Environment Compliance Unit SECU report, faults staff  for pursuing limited due-diligence approach while engaging with Bidco.

 The UNDP form used while engaging Bidco for membership in Business Call to Action BCtA, contravened with the Risk Assessment Tool RAT directive to provide details for the criticism against the Candidate Company as well as obtaining public statement on how the candidate companies address the issues raised and how the same scenarios are prevented from reoccurring.

Instead , the UNDP form used to asses Bidco,  requested  for limited disclosure but still  some relevant risks were listed by the UNDP staff but they did not follow  up on the controversies in a satisfactory manner neither did they characterize them accurately.

 The Risk Assessment Tool RAT controversies questions include the questions on the community rights, labor, governance, and environment, product relate ownership among others. But even when these were listed with limited details, the UNDP staff went ahead to characterize them as “moderate” since there was no satisfactory follow ups

 The RAT also demands that the partner candidate should contribute not less than $100,000 when the project is risky. However, Bidco did not make any contribution to the effect yet its project activities were considered risky. The UNDP policy considers the growing of crops including palm oil and other monocultures as highly risky therefore an extra careful approach was required by UNDP staff.

UNDP staff therefore did not include all exclusionary criteria while conducting due diligence yet the evidence was relatively clearer that identified controversies as greater significant and not just moderate as characterized by the UNDP staff.  

 The Business Call to Action Alliance BCtA, is a United Nations Development Program which started in 2014 and is expected to end June 2017 with a budget of over US $9,175,000. The project primary goal is to create global advocacy platform providing public recognition for the private sectors’ contribution to development.

In May 2016 SECU conducted a field work investigation in Uganda and Turkey following a complaint from the Bugala Farmers Association which asserted that BCtA admission of Bidco contravenes with the UNDP Social and environmental policy standards hence the processes employed by UNDP to admit Bidco were not consistent with the policies

 The Social and  Environment Compliance Unit SECU investigation focused on the adequacy of UNDPs’ due-diligence and other transparency related issues to BCtA project 

State Broadcaster, UBC, irrelevant and dysfuntional-UCC

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye 

The Dr Peter Mwesige Review committee on Uganda Broadcasting Corporation UBC has released its report on the company indicating that UBC is marred in debts and cannot afford to pay salaries and benefits of its staff. The company has been mismanaged, chronically underfunded and not treated like a public institution of strategic value… part of the report reads.

The report reveals that the public takes UBC as ruling party mouth piece instead of the state broadcaster. Government commitment to UBC has been half hearted with limited effort to guarantee secure predictable funding that can allow medium and long term planning.

The broadcaster itself has done little to secure independence and remain relevant in the eyes of the pubic

According to report the regulator, UCC, has discredited UBC as completely irrelevant and dysfunctional and it is just for giving people addresses

The committee recommends that UBC is very important public institution with strategic value which should not be allowed to fail, the corporation is supposed to be an autonomous institution that serves every one and accountable to the public. It should be driven by key principles and values of editorial independence, impartiality, accountability, distinctiveness, excellence diversity and universality.

UBC should be funded in a predictable manner since it is a public institution; Management and the board are encouraged to pursue innovative methods of generating extra revenue to enable deliver on its mandate

The report recommends change management process to help the board, management and staff to appreciate better and together embrace the true mandate of a public broadcaster

 The committee recommends the amendment of the UBC Act to turn UBC into a true broadcaster that is independent, serves the public interest and accountable to the public.

 The corporation should be restructured the committee recommends  

 The committee emphasizes that the report recommendations should be  looked at  holistically  otherwise it will be counterproductive to put in more public money  without addressing  legal, technical, governance, management , human Resource and programming challenges.

 Most of the recommendations according to the report require money but the right mindset, restructuring, and management is critical.

 The minister should not be left alone to decide on the future of UBC but  the cabinet, parliament, political parties, Civil Society organizations and the general public should be involved, another major recommendation.

President Museveni not Intoxicated with the oil and Gas talk

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

President Yoweri Museveni has lashed out at critics   who claim that he has personalized oil and Gas discovered in the western part of the country over a decade back.

 The  president was addressing delegates at the  2016 Uganda International  oil and Gas  Conference where he pointed at the civil society  for the promoting the Museveni's oil agenda

Museveni assured the critics that he is not intoxicated with the talk on oil and gas like other people. He  went ahead to clear the air saying that Agriculture has been here  for years and will stay therefore the idea of depending on oil and gas alone is not rational, after all countries like Japan have developed without  oil and gas but Human resources

President Museveni went back to his rhetoric of using the oil money to build a sound country economy, develop electricity from Hydro, and renew energy, Solar, fund sciences and innovation.

 The President also said that Uganda has over 350 Metric tons of Iron Ore and the reserves are  likely to increase to 1 billion therefore the need for investors in this sector.

Uganda to conclude on new oIL Refinery lead investor soon,New exploration licenses expected next month

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

Government has received a number of new investment interests for the oil refinery construction with hope of conclusion by February 2017. According to the minister of Energy and Mineral Development Irene Muloni, the refinery hit a snag after the lead investor issued unfriendly conditions to the government of Uganda.

Through Public Private Partnership, government is seeking for a lead private investor with 60% stake in the refinery construction. Kenya is said to have agreed to invest 2.5% stake, Tanzania 8% while Total is settling in for a 10% stake.

The minister who was addressing the 2016 Uganda International Oil and Gas conference also revealed that new exploration Licenses for the 60% of the Albertine Graben 3000 square mile oil field will be issued before close of this year, applications and bids are currently under evaluation.

The Minister is optimistic that oil will be flowing by 2020 and with a plan for companies to add value through the refinery exports and other values the country will transform to middle income quicker than expected.

Nine Production licenses were issued to Tullow Uganda, Total and CNOOC this year with a target of 8billion Uganda million shillings inflow. Uganda discovered oil over a decade ago with 6.5 billion barrels of oil reserves and about 2billion barrels recoverable

Uganda's First oil set for 2020

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye 

Government of Uganda has issued five Petroleum Production Licenses to Tullow Uganda Operations Pty limited and three other licenses to Total E&P Uganda B.V.  The eight Petroleum Production Licenses have been granted over oil fields in the Exploration Area 2 operated by Tullow and exploration area 1 operated by Total. The licenses were granted after the two companies earlier submitted their applications over the two areas.  The areas for which the licenses have been granted for Total and Tullow are equally shared with CNOOC Uganda Limited

 The  granting of these licenses also  launches  the operation of an  implementation plan which was jointly  developed by  government of Uganda and the  oil companies in furtherance to the memorandum  of understanding  for sustainable  Development  of oil and gas resources discovered in the country. The plan provides for the three commercialization options for the petroleum resources in the Albertine Graben which include Petroleum to power generation, Development of a refinery and export of crude oil by pipeline or by other viable options.

The plan aimed at integrated development of the oil fields and related projects and it describes the critical activities to be undertaken by government and the oil companies as well as the timelines and the interrelationships between these activities.

According to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Dr Kabagambe  Kaliisa, as one of the major objectives of the National Oil and Gas policy of Uganda to  ensure efficient  production  of the country’s oil and Gas resource  there was need for evaluation and application before issuance of the licenses,

The licenses will operate for the 25 years and renewable for five more other years but commencement of work is only after undertaking the Environment and Social Impact Assessments, Resettlement Action Plans and Front End Engineering  and Design s for the respective licensed areas. The final investment Decisions are therefore expected to be accomplished 18 months after the issuance of the license therefore the First oil expected in 2020.

Dr Kaliisa says the companies are expected to invest over US $8bn in the infrastructure required for oil production for all the production licenses. The investment will be for the drilling of about 500 wells, construction of central processing Facilities and Feeder pipelines among others Government through the national Oil Company has 15% stake in each of the issued Production licenses as provided for in the Exploration, Development and production Act 2013.

 It is now estimated that all the production licenses issued will be able to translate into between 200,000 and 200,000 barrels of oil per day and 30,000 barrels will be refined within the country before export and the rest will be exported through a pipeline from Kabale in Hoima district through the port of Tanga in Tanzania.

Uganda is expected to gain revenues through loyalties, annul fees, the state share of profit oil and corporate income tax and the total revenue gains are estimated to amount to US 1.5billion per year for the entire duration of production the licensed fields.

The issuance of the licenses during a period of low oil prices should benefit from low cost of services and materials that is a result of low oil prices

S.Sudan refuge influx in Uganda

 Fighting in South Sudan that broke out on 8 July between rival factions loyal to Salva Kiir and Riek Machar has to date forced 37,890 people to flee the country to Uganda. In the past three weeks there have been more refugee arrivals in Uganda than in the entire first six months of 2016 (33,838).

Yesterday (25 July) an estimated 2,442 refugees were received in Uganda from South Sudan. 1,213 crossed at the Elugu Border Point in Amuru, 247 in Moyo, 57 in Lamwo, and 370 in Oraba. Another 555 were received in Kiryandongo Settlement. The majority of arrivals – more than 90% - are women and children. People are coming from South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria region, as well as from Juba and other areas of the country. 

Inside South Sudan the intensity of the violence has subsided since early July, but the security situation remains volatile. The new arrivals in Uganda are reporting ongoing fighting as well as armed militias looting and burning down of homes, and murdering civilians. Some of the women and children say they were separated from their husbands or fathers by armed groups, who are reportedly forcibly recruiting men into their ranks and preventing them from crossing the border.  

Daily arrivals were averaging around 1,500 ten days ago but have risen to more than 4,000 in the past week. Further surges in arrivals are a real possibility.    

The influx is putting serious strain on the capacity of collection points, and transit and reception centres, which are too small for the growing number of arrivals. During the course of the weekend, humanitarian organizations worked to decongest the collection points, as well as installing temporary shelters to increase capacities. UNHCR has deployed additional staff, trucks and buses to assist. 

At its peak, more than 11,000 refugees were staying in Elegu, northern Uganda, in a compound equipped to shelter only 1,000 people. Over the course of the weekend, the centre was significantly decongested, with just 300 people sleeping there last night. Many of the refugees have been moved to the Nyumanzi Transit Centre, where they are receiving hot meals, water, shelter and other life-saving assistance, while others have been taken to expanded reception centres in Pagirinya. 

The management and expansion of reception facilities as well as the opening of a new settlement area remain key priorities. A new settlement area has been identified in Yumbe district that looks set to have the capacity to potentially host up to 100,000 people. Temporary communal shelters are also being constructed to accommodate the continuing arrivals. 

The humanitarian response to the influx of South Sudanese refugees is sorely lacking due to severe underfunding. The inter-agency appeal is only funded at 17 per cent, which is constraining UNHCR and its partners to provide emergency and life-saving activities only and causing limitations to the full breadth of humanitarian assistance that can be offered.

South Sudan’s conflict, which erupted in December 2013, has produced one of the world’s worst displacement situations with immense suffering. Inside South Sudan, some 1.69 million people are displaced internally, while outside the country there are now 831,582 South Sudanese refugees, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda.

Betty Kamya the lady of multiple faces

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye 

Betty Kamya 

Betty Kamya is now the minister for Kampala City Authority in President Museveni’s fifth term, such a controversial appointment given her last ten year political life.

Doubts and rumor about her  shaky allegiance  to the political opposition started early this year after she started criticizing her most recent boss Dr Kizza Besigye’s approach of defiance against President Yoweri Museveni’s government.

But who is this outspoken woman of surprises:

She became a household name in the 2001 elections as the spokesperson of the Reform Agenda, a political group formed by Dr. Kizza Besigye months before the elections.

She remained the face of Reform Agenda and later Forum for Democratic Change party at the time when a number of leaders of the group went into exile, including its leader Kizza Besigye and spokesperson Anne Mugisha

From 2005 until 2010, she served as the Special Envoy of the FDC president Kizza Besigye, at that time.

 In 2009, a disagreement on who was to replace party chairman Sulaiman Kiggundu who had passedon, put Kamya on a collision course with some party officials. She had prepared to replace him, but the party later picked John Butime for the post.

 In January 2010, she quit FDC and formed Uganda Federal Alliance, becoming its first president.

Betty Kamya contested for Uganda presidency under Uganda Federal Alliace, her new party in the 2011 general elections and lost to the incumbent, her former boss president Yower Museveni. She opted to go back and reclaim her parliamentary seat of Rubaga North, Kampala, which she held in the 8^th Parliament (2006-2011). She had stood on the Forum for the Democratic Change ticket but lost to the Democratic Party candidate Moses Kasibante. Moses reclaimed the victory after demanding for a recount where results had given a victory vote to her.

Kamya was married to Spencer Turwomwe, a former soldier, who passed on in 2003.

Born in Nakuru, Kenya of a Ugandan father George Wilson Kamya and Kenyan mother Margaret Wairimu Kamya, Beti is the fourth born in the family of nine siblings. Kamya’s family came back to Uganda in 1961 when Beti was six years old.

Beti attended St. Hellen’s Primary School in Mbarara, Wanyange Girls’ and King’s College Budo, before going to Makerere University, where she graduated with Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Betty worked at the Uganda Leather and Tanning industry in Jinja, Nyanza Textiles Industries, Uganda Breweries and Wild Life Authority Education Center before joining active politics.