Would Mwenda would have published the information about the oil documents if Karuhanga had not presented them in parliament?
23 Oct 2011 3 Comments
in Corruption, media in Uganda, Museveni and NRM, oil
Walter Duranty
With due respect, Andrew prides himself for digging up news not published anywhere else: shocking security secrets, but I suspect that what he digs up is the sort of humdrum stuff a journalist with ‘’influential’’ friends in the state should have, and this does not make this information more important to Ugandans than what they read in the Daily Monitor or Observer. I don’t know whether it’s me but I never read any of these ‘secret intelligence’ files published in the Independent magazine. May be, it’s just me but I never waste my time with them.
Anyone with connections to the people in power (in which case Andrew looks every bit of it now) can assemble stuff like that and make anyone look foolish, but is it something worth anybody’s time. For instance, if you juxtapose Martin Luther king’s public image with his personal shenanigans, you can make him look very foolish. Also true for John Kennedy with his womanizing. So what’s the point: that king and Kennedy were attracted to power to gain access to high class women?
As a long time admirer of Andrew Mwenda, I feel so disappointed in what he has become today. What has really happened to him? I had him down as one of the Uganda journalists that he will one day win the Annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism. The prize was established and run by the International Policy Network (IPN – a UK based NGO) to “encourage and reward writers whose published works promote the institutions of a free society” according to how its patron saint, 19th century French-born Frederic Bastiat, saw things. He had a deep distrust of government in any form and thought regulation and control were inefficient, economically destructive and morally wrong, or as IPN puts it: It supports “limited government, rule of law brokered by an independent judiciary, protection of private property, free markets, free speech, and sound science.”
Like I said, Andrew is right that good journalism is about news based on real sources and objective data but his reaction on Capital fm on ‘’Alan Kasujja’’ show as soon as Honourable Karuhanga published the documents, points to the fact that he is no longer doing journalism but spin. There was no need to publicly defend the ministers implicated in the said documents as there are people, like Tamare Mirundi(President’s office) and Pamela Anakunda(Media centre), already employed to do that kind of work.
At the moment, I guess most elites in Kampala are now looking at him in the same way Americans looked at Walter Duranty who worked for New York Times in 1930s. Walter visited Russia when Stalin was the leader and reported that nothing was happening there, yet people in Ukraine were dying of famine for up to 10 years. But because of his connections with influential people in both the Russian and USA government, he ended up with a Pulitzer Prize which still stands up to now. Surprisingly, Walter was British and born in Liverpool. I had never put down ‘Liverpoolians’ as dodgy till that moment.No wonder, Liverpool F.C have broken my heart in the Champions League more than any other team, especially that ghost goal from Luis Javier García some years ago. Chelsea’s Gallas cleared the line but the linesman saw it differently. I will never forget that painful moment.
Abbey
All these Wars in Africa are more like ‘Investments’ to the Big Nations.There is always a catch
03 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Africa, Corruption, International Issues, oil
The Struggle for oil and mineral wealth by big nations is as old as humans themselves. It has been going on militarily since the end of the Cold war. Yes, France and Britain found it easy to intervene in the Libyan situation because of the oil wells there. I bet nobody is going to attack Mr. Mugabe because Zimbabwe has got less to offer. The few gold mines there have been taken over by the Chinese and Russians. So it is not worth it attacking such an old man. War is a business as far as the great nations are concerned.
In Uganda, we have got oil but I cannot see the international community taking on president Museveni at the moment because he is doing everything they want. He has given them ownership of Uganda’s oil and UPDF is doing their ‘’dirty’’ work in Somalia. More so, Washington has not identified their next man in Uganda. Yes, London wanted Besigye to take over from Museveni but they failed to convince Washington, and that is why Museveni is still president. The rest of the guys in the opposition are just wasting our time, I can tell you that!
Anyway, as long as state institutions in Africa continue to be fragile backed with weaker economies, the scramble for African resources will never stop. We brought this on ourselves by electing selfish leaders after independence. How we correct it, I don’t know yet!
So Russia’s decision to recognize the rebels in Libya should not surprise anybody. They were given some assurances by the Libya’s NTC that their interests in Libya will be protected. China will also recognize the rebels as soon as they are given assurances too. That is how international politics works.
Personally, I know that big nations don’t care much about Africans but I also know that most African leaders are actually worse than the so called ‘international businessmen’ (donors). All African leaders care about is power and monopolizing the wealth in their respective countries. They could kill anybody as long as they retain power and keep wealth. For instance, the July 1999 Lome peace agreement on Sierra-leon civil war, where the management of the country’s diamonds was put under the control of the rebel leader, late Foday Sankoh. Another example is that of Liberia’s former president, Charles Taylor, who almost owned every natural resource in the country.
Similarly, I would not be surprised if president Museveni and his friends are more interested in their share of Uganda’s oil rather than looking at the bigger picture. Every man is looking after his stomach, as Kampalans used to say. The current opposition leaders in Kampala right now, probably apart from the ‘hardworking’ Besigye, they are all opportunists who don’t deserve a shot at the State House.
Yes, democracy in Africa is something great nations would like to take place in the long term but it is not their priority in the short term. Their short term interest is business, nothing else. They have been busy selling arms to Africa since the end of the cold war. They have been buying and selling Africa’s natural resources since independence, and this has resulted into a lot of conflicts on the continent.
With Africa oil, it is dominated by foreign companies in almost all Africa’s leading oil producers. Apart from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are among the leading oil producers in Africa. Libya is the second largest oil producer and its proximity to Europe makes it an attractive option to greater nations. The total proven oil reserve of Libya is about 30 billion barrels.
During the sanctions, Gaddafi ensured that the state owned National Oil Company (NOC) controlled the entire oil industry- working with 33 subsidiaries.
In 1979, Gaddafi allowed NOC to open up to foreign companies as a way of conning the international community to remove the sanctions against him. This was at a time he was also drifting towards African-blacks instead of Arabs, again for the same purpose of getting the sanctions off his rail.
When sanctions were removed in 1999, more than 50 foreign oil companies moved into Libya. Italy’s AGIP dominated the market though I was surprised when the Italians supported NATO’s bombing. Let us also note that Africa produces more than 15% of US oil needs.
Egypt has also got vast amounts of oil. Oil there was discovered in 1868 by a company called Suplhur Mines while they were searching for Sulphur. Britain’s oil company, BP, own most of the oil discovered in the Saqqara field. As of 2003, Egypt was producing about 620 barrels per day. Foreign companies there have been operating under joint ventures with Egypt main oil companies under former president, Mubaraka. I don’t whether this has changed now that Mubarak is gone.
So I can fairly say that both the conflicts in Libya and Egypt are somehow linked to the international oil politics that surround oil pricing and marketing. I understand Gaddafi was selling his oil at a higher price despite being a member of OPEC. He was among those that never allowed OPEC to control them. No wonder he got less support from OPEC countries when NATO started bombing him, not that he was innocent of human rights violations in his country. OPEC accounts for the production of more than 70 % of world oil reserves.
Nonetheless, with or without oil, I have got no sympathy for dictators in Africa. They kill, imprison and torture their own citizens without any remorse. If NATO can help us get rid of all of them, that is ok with me. We shall sort out the ‘theft’ of multinational corporations- stealing Africa’s resources, later on.
Because Africans are poor and their economies are in a bad shape, multinational corporations take advantage of them. In 2000, 31 out of 42 poorest countries in the world were in Africa, and in 1989, only 10 out of the 53 countries in Africa had a per capita income not exceeding 1000 US dollars.
Again because we are poor, it is the reason why oil in Uganda has also been ”hijacked” by foreign companies. Museveni had to accept the foreign companies to take the biggest shares of Uganda’s oil partly because it requires extensive capital and technological skills for prospecting and processing oil. Uganda also being a land locked country; it has made the drilling for oil extremely expensive. Uganda somehow needs some kind of cooperation with especially Kenya and Tanzania to export their oil via the coast. But we don’t know how these negotiations went because people in the government don’t want us to know the details.
Museveni, himself, has not been transparent throughout the oil process. Up to now, we don’t know which is which as far as Uganda’s oil is concerned. Yes, there is now an oil ministry, which oversees the oil industry though Banyoro aren’t happy with the minister given this docket, but who supervises the operations of the oil companies? Is this still the responsibility of the minister of Petroleum? Have we got a national company that deals directly with the foreign companies or it is the president’s office directly dealing with them? How many shares has the Uganda government got in the oil deals?
Abbey Semuwemba
