Rwot David Onen Acana II, the Acholi Paramount chief says while part of the oil is in Acholi, it has not benefited from infrastructure like the "oil roads"
The Acholi Paramount Chief, Rwot David Onen Acana II has challenged the government to ensure transparency and equitable sharing of revenues from oil and gas.
Rwot Acana, who was the chief guest at the oil and gas symposium
organized by the Ministry of Energy at Churchill Courts Hotel in Gulu City on 16th April 2024 challenged the government not to stampede the population but to demonstrate
transparency to ensure equitable benefits of oil to the country.
//Cue in: “Oil revenue sharing is in...
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Part of the oil fields especially under TotalEnergies' Tilenga project is located are Nwoya district which is part of Acholi.
Cultural and political leaders from Acholi say they have equally benefited from the development stages of the oil and gas infrastructure like their counterparts in Bunyoro Kitara.
Between 2013 and 2014,
former Leader of the Opposition and a politician from Agago, Prof. Maurice Ogenga Latigo led a team of researchers under the Acholi Technical Working
Committee on Oil and Gas whose key observations and recommendations on oil and
gas were contained in a memorandum to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for
consideration.
At the time, the Committee
proposed that Tilenga's Central Processing Facility (CPF) should be located in Nwoya to process crude from Acholi.
The
Committee also observed that Uganda’s National Oil and Gas Policy did not
adequately reflect oil and gas discoveries, and defined opportunities.
Professor Latigo's team also proposed a “Trans-North Crude Oil Export Pipeline”
to Lamu Town in Kenya as opposed to the
East African Crude Oil
Pipeline- EACOP to Tanzania. But both the pipeline and the Central Processing facility are based in Hoima. The EACOP pipeline will not also traverse any of the districts in Acholi.
Professor Latigo notes that with huge oil discoveries in Acholi, it has not benefited from the oil roads like the districts in Bunyoro. He said other than pump heads in oil
fields, no key road infrastructure or oil and
gas infrastructure are in the Acholi.
//Cue in: “When we look at oil infrastructure...
Cue out: …benefits of oil calms people down”.//
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and
Mineral Development at to Eng. Irene Pauline Bateebe dis not directly speak to
the concerns raised by the the leaders from Acholi
//Cue in: “We do have two upstream...
Cue out: …our commercialization plan”.//
Bateebe explains that 1.4 billion barrels of the oil are
technically recoverable at current conditions while the 1.0 billion barrels are
reserves (recoverable) and 0.4 billion barrels are contingent
resources.
Uganda has already started developing an oil refinery plant at Kabaale Parish,
Buseruka sub-county, Bugahya County in Hoima District to process 60,000 barrels
per day of oil produced in the country.
A 29 Sq Km of land has been
acquired and secured from the public to establish an industrial park to host
Uganda’s 2nd International Airport, Crude Oil Export Hub, as well as, polymer,
fertilizer, mixed industries, aggro-processors, and warehousing logistics,
among others.
Ochola's journalism career begun from Radio King 90.2 FM in Gulu around 2009, and Radio Rupiny 95.7 Fm under Vision Group in 2012. He also reported for Mighty Fire 91.5 Fm, Kitgum in 2015 before joining Wizarts Foundation in 2017.
He has been reporting for Uganda Radio Network (URN) since 2017 before being posted as Bureau Chief Kitgum, and later Gulu between 2018 - 2021. Currently, he reports from Parliament.
