IRCU presents memorandum on oil

IRCU presents a memorandum on oil to parliament

On the 8 of May 2012, the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) presented before the Natural Resources Committee of the Parliament of Uganda a Memorandum on the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill.

The team from IRCU was led by the chairman of IRCU Peace, Justice and Governance committee, His Grace Archi Bishop John Baptist Odama, Arch Bishop of Gulu Archdiocese,  the Secretary General Mr. Joshua Kitakule and Religious leaders.

In the memorandum, IRCU expressed gratitude to submit its final findings and recommendations. The religious leaders said they were inspired by their desire to see to it that Uganda’s oil remains a blessing to the citizens and nation as a whole and that they want to see transparency and accountability in the management of the oil sector

The religious leaders reccommended that the oversight role of Parliament is increased to include approving appointment of members of the Authority, receiving reports from the authority and ratifying petroleum exploration licenses and that Oil licenses should be approved by Cabinet and ratified by Parliament.

The clergy were also concerned about clause 16 which give the minister too much power and 17 that obliges parliament to obey the minister’s orders that this would erode its independency. They recommended that clause 16 and 17 be removed from the bill and that appointment of members of the authority be done by the President with the approval of Parliament and that parliament should also have a role/say in initiating dismissal of members of the Authority in cases of abuse of office.

For details of the IRCU Memorandum on Oil please go under publications and click on Reports.