FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

12th/August/2016

AFIEGO AND GPFOG WANT MINISTRY OF ENERGY TO ADDRESS GAPS IN

DRAFT NATIONAL CONTENT POLICY
Some of the gaps in and weaknesses against the policy which require addressing include:

Lack of provisions on increasing womens participation in the oil sector;

How pervasive corruption which sees inefficient companies being given government
contracts even in the oil sector will be addressed;

Duplicitousness of other policies;

Lack of time frames which deters Ugandans from holding Ministry of Energy
accountable;

Lack of a harmonized legal and regulatory framework for the oil sector.

Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and the Guild Presidents Forum on Oil
Governance (GPFOG) have written to the Minister of Energy and her ministry asking her to
urgently address weaknesses against and fill gaps in the draft National Content policy and
implementation plan -dated July 2016- that have been formulated by her ministry.
This policy is important in enabling Ugandans fulfill their dreams of participating in the oil and
gas sector to maximize the benefits from the sector. We therefore do not want it to be like other
Ugandan policies which always promise a lot but deliver little due to poor implementation. We
want the ministry of energy to fill gaps we identified on reviewing the draft National Content
policy, Mr. Dickens Kamugisha, the CEO of AFIEGO, says.

Among the gaps in the policy is the fact that while recognising that womens participation in the
oil sector is low, the policy does not clearly outline how it will increase their participation in the
oil sector.
The draft policy says that because women entrepreneurs generally lack business skills, have less
access to collateral security and therefore less access to credit and that they generally lack the
highly specialized skills such as engineering which are required in the oil and gas sector, less of
them are participating in the oil sector. While recognizing this unfortunate situation, the policy
fails to show what special arrangements it will make to increase womens participation in the
sector, Kamugisha says.
AFIEGO and GPFOG have asked the ministry of energy to remedy the above oversight by
ensuring that the final National Content provides for affirmative action for women such as
making access to credit easier for them or adding them bonus points in job interviews so as to
increase their participation in the oil and gas sector.
A challenge against the draft National Content policy identified by AFIEGO and GPFOG is that
of pervasive corruption which has seen companies without the technical expertise and other
necessary credentials be given contracts over those with the necessary abilities. The general
business environment where businesses fail is also another concern for the success of the
National Content policy.
We need to face up to the fact that Ugandan companies, even those which are owned by
government, have not always performed well. We thus shouldnt expect the National Content
policy to perform magic. Lets take a look at the electricity sector in Uganda. Government
unbundled Uganda Electricity Board in 2001 and created Uganda Electricity Generation
Company Limited [UEGCL], Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited [UETCL] and
Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited [UEDL]. What did these companies do?
They contracted companies from outside Uganda such as South Africas Eskom and UMEME to
do their work.

In the oil and gas sector, Hoima district officials accused White Nile Consults, a Ugandan-owned
waste management company, of failing to meet waste management standards. South Africanowned EnviroServ on the other hand was said to meet the standards [See Oil waste managers
face lean days, criticism over standards; Oil in Uganda, December 8, 2015].

We are not saying that non-nationals should take over oil business. No, we are saying that as
Ugandans, we need to face up to the fact that corruption and failure to meet standards will harm
our national content ambitions. The Ministry of Energy must therefore work very hard and avoid
corruption to genuinely empower local companies to be able to provide services to the oil
sector, Kamugisha says.

The draft National Content policy states that to realise national content, it intends to build the
competitiveness of local enterprises by supporting their development.

Another weakness against the draft National Content policy is the fact that it has been formulated
after the enactment of the Upstream and Midstream oil laws of 2013 which provide for national
content. This may make its implementation difficult or require amendment of the laws, a process
that may delay the implementation of the policy.

Additionally, Uganda does not have a functioning petroleum authority, the oil and gas sector
lacks Upstream and Midstream national content regulations even when they are mentioned by
the draft policy- and the draft policy does not indicate its connection with oil regulations as
required under sections 183, 95 and 81 of the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream laws
respectively.
Without a harmonised legal and regulatory framework for the oil and gas sector, the National
Content policy will be difficult to enforce. As such, the ministry of energy needs to harmonize
the legal and regulatory framework of the oil sector for the National Content policy to work for
the several students undertaking studies with hopes of tapping into the oil sector in addition to
the several companies which have invested with the dreams of participating in the sector,
Asadhu Ssebyoto, the General Secretary of GPFOG, says.

The draft National Content policy also appears to be duplicitousness with a plan for
communication of the Oil and Gas Workforce Skills requirements being proposed by the draft
National Content policy yet the National Communication Strategy for the Oil and Gas Sector in
Uganda is already in place. AFIEGO and GPFOG want the Ministry of Energy to ensure that the
two strategies are not duplicitous, making one unnecessary.

Lack of time frames for strategies and actions to achieve the five objectives stated in the draft
policy was also identified by AFIEGO and GPFOG and the two organisations are asking that this
gap is filled.
Without time frames, Ugandans cannot hold the Ministry of Energy accountable. Time frames
should be set, Sebyoto says.

Finally, AFIEGO and GPFOG want the role the Uganda Development Bank will play in
capitalizing businesses in the oil sector outlined in the policy. Additionally, we want the National
Content Steering Committee (NCSC) to be also made of independent, non-state actors such as
NGOs and religious leaders as opposed to only government actors. We also want the Ministry of
Gender to be part of the NCSC for as the draft policy notes, women participation in the oil and
gas sector is low and it needs to be improved.

While ensuring that Ugandans get the necessary skills, we want government to remain mindful of
the Dutch disease.
Education standards in Uganda have continued to go down but the draft policy plans to spend a
lot of money in training Ugandans to get oil related skills. We think that this could negatively
affect other sectors of the economy, leading to the Dutch disease. Uganda needs to be mindful of
this and we need to ensure that our education system provides the skills needed for our countrys
entire economy, Kamugisha says.

About AFIEGO
Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) is a public policy research and advocacy
NGO dedicated to influencing energy policies to benefit the poor and vulnerable.

About GPFOG
The Guild Presidents Forum on Oil Governance (GPFOG) is a a university, youth-based
association started in November 2014 comprising of guild presidents, guild ministers and other
university district associations leaders all over the country. Its main objective is to promote
good governance in Ugandas oil sector.

Contact:
Diana Nabiruma
Communications Officer
0782 280073
dnabiruma@afiego.org