Criticism of new legislation

By Barry Morgan

 24 February 2012 01:39 GMT

The latest piece of hydrocarbon legislation presented for parliamentary debate in Uganda deals with the downstream and midstream sectors, and follows hard on the heels of the controversial Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production Bill 2012, writes Barry Morgan.

Both have been criticised by local analyst Nicholas Opiyo as lacking in transparency and failing to give local communities a measure of ownership and participation.

Member of Parliament, Gerald Karahunga, said he intended to demand a stronger oversight role for Parliament and weaken ministerial discretion.

Taimour Lay, an activist at London-based campaign group Platform, said Uganda’s lawmakers have their work cut out to properly analyse the proposed downstream-midstream legislation and the Petroleum Exploration Bill.

He said Kampala had more than a year to renegotiate profit shares with Tullow, but has left companies taking slightly…

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