By Timothy Nsubuga

3^rd January 2011

M/s Wokuri

The Inter Party Cooperation [IPC], a potent political force of four opposition parties which is confident of winning the elections next month, has hit back at what it called the ‘senseless arrogance’ of Museveni’s personal attacks on Dr. Kizza Besigye over oil.

While campaigning in Rukungiri on 27^th December, President Museveni is reported to have said:  “…I can’t leave the seat when we have just discovered those resources like oil.  And if I am to leave, I will look for someone in NRM to take care of them”.

The President also accused his most formidable challenger for the presidency of Uganda Dr. Kizza Besigye of “quickly” returning “…from his self-imposed exile in South Africa as soon as he learnt that Uganda had discovered oil”.

In an email to Uganda Correspondent last week, a South African based Ugandan political analyst described Museveni’s statements as ‘distasteful’ and “designed to send a message to Ugandans that Dr. Besigye is only interested in the country’s oil wealth”.  It is this suggestion that appears to have annoyed the IPC the most.

In her statement of reply, the IPC’s Director of Publicity & Communication M/s Margaret Wokuri hit back at Museveni’s statement with her own revelations of unprecedented nepotism, suspicious secrecy, and corruption by Museveni’s regime in the management of the country’s oil resource.

She said “…the senseless arrogance of that statement aside, it also shows that candidate Museveni has total disrespect for the constitution and the people of Uganda.  Lest Ugandans forget, Besigye’s exile was prompted by well documented State inspired harassment and intimidation that included an abduction attempt”.

Addressing Museveni’s insinuation that Dr. Besigye was only interested in Uganda’s oil wealth, M/s Wokuri turned the heat back on Museveni’s government and accused it of suspicious secrecy and corruption in the nascent oil sector.

Uganda’s Petroleum Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), she said, “…have been shrouded in mystery, having been drawn and negotiated in secrecy by State House.  It took phenomenal efforts by civil society, Parliament, and international pressure for a small committee of Parliament to get a sneak view into the agreements”, M/s Wokuri charged.

On the subject of nepotism in Museveni’s government, M/s Wokuri pointed to the undisputable and clearly open fact that Museveni’s close friends and relatives are deeply involved in virtually everything to do with Uganda’s oil.

She said “…only Museveni and his very close associates are privy to the full contract details for a resource that belongs to the whole country and yet this is something that should be under the custody of Parliament where the people’s representatives sit”.

She then established Museveni’s family interests in Uganda’s oil by pointing out that it was now “…open secret that the security of the oil fields has been placed under the UPDF’s Special Forces commanded by Museveni’s son Lt. Col. Muhoozi Keinerugaba and Saracen; a private security company owned by Museveni’s brother General Salim Saleh”.

Turning to the subject of corruption in Museveni’s government, M/s Wokuri said, “…it has recently come to light that corruption has already taken hold of the nascent oil industry, with some top government Ministers being accused of corruption and bribery in the award of exploration contracts”.

US diplomatic cables published by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks accused Security Minister Amama Mbabazi and Energy Minister Hilary Onek of taking bribes to award oil exploration contracts; allegations that both Ministers deny.

Having established Museveni’s suspicious family interests in Uganda’s oil, M/s Wokuri then pointed out that unlike Museveni, the IPC’s presidential candidate Dr. Besigye has no personal interest whatsoever in Uganda’s oil resource.

She said “…while Dr. Besigye has not sought, and does not own a single plot of land in the oil rich Bunyoro region, it is an open secret that some of Museveni’s top officials have been busy acquiring large tracts of land in the region; displacing entire villages in the process”.

President Kizza Besigye’s government, she said, will do the following:

• Establish a transparent and equitable legal and policy framework for the management of oil and all other resources in Uganda.

• Set up a national oil fund that will be separate from the Consolidated Fund.

• Allocate 10% of resources from oil and other natural resources to sectors that directly benefit women and the youth of our country.

• Ensure that under the incoming federal system of governance, the oil producing regions of the country benefit directly from a percentage of that resource.

In her concluding remarks, M/s Wokuri then said Ugandans now have a clear choice in the 2011 election.  “…They can choose to entrust the oil wealth with President Museveni’s corrupt government that has already made secret agreements with foreign companies, they can also choose the same Museveni who only trusts his close relatives to guard the oil,

OR they can choose President Kizza Besigye’s government; a government that will guarantee total transparency and fairness to ensure that the country’s oil wealth benefits all Ugandans”.

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