President Yoweri Museveni has assured Ugandans that the government is committed to managing the country’s oil resources as transparently as possible.

In a press conference Wednesday evening, Museveni said the government is making all efforts to follow due process in awarding contracts to oil companies and ensuring that Ugandans benefit from the oil resources.

Museveni at a press Conference

This follows a special Parliamentary sitting on the oil sector in Uganda which ended today calling for investigations into bribery allegation against senior government ministers who have allegedly given oil companies favourable terms to fleece Ugandans in return to hefty bribes to the ministers.

Museveni tells Journalists that he fully supports investigation on the officials because the government wants to ensure transparency in the oil sector.

The president asked Ministry of Energy and Minerals Permanent Secretary, Kabagambe Kalisa to explain why the oil sharing agreements have not been made public, the major cause of outcry by parliamentarians and Ugandans.

Kalisa explained that oil agreements in most countries have secret clauses because of the nature of the resource and the long process of its exploration, production and distribution.

The Minister of Energy and Minerals, Irene Muloni said it is not true the oil sharing agreements have been kept secret from parliament, insisting that the ministry presented the Production and Oil sharing agreements before Parliament’s Committee on Economy in July 2010.

She however acknowledged that they agreements had to be accessed in accordance to some conditions including the presence of a trusted government official.

Ultimate Media