It’s been months since Ugandan journalists began pushing for access to the information on oil sharing agreements between the Ugandan government and Tullow which not even top officials in government have a clue about. There’s even talk that even the minister for energy knows little about the agreements for yet to be produced oil in the albertine region. Now two Ugandan journalists, Charles Mwanguhya and Angelo Izama have taken on government in the first case in which journalists are using the Access to Information A ct to bring the much needed information on oil to the Ugandan public.
The secrecy around the oil is too much, we have a new oil and gas policy but it doesnt give us detailed answers on how the revenues will be handled.
The court case has been set for November 27 at 3:00pm Uganda time, before the Chief Magistrate’s court.
The access to information law is quite new and this case should be closely watched not only because of the subject (oil) but also it is important to test these laws to make sure they are not just there to impress donors.
Rosebell Kagumire 