Oil ad hoc team fails to deliver report in 2 years

Two years later, the ad hoc committee on oil and gas is yet to submit its report to Parliament raising fears among its members that its leadership may have been compromised.

Some members of the committee, instituted in October 2011 to investigate bribery allegations within the oil sector, now fear that the report may never see the light of day, the same way the investigation report into the police conduct went.

However, the committee chairman, Mr Michael Werikhe, who is in the spotlight for sitting on the progress of the investigation, has scoffed at suggestions that he may have been compromised by those under investigation and insists the report is ready.

But some members who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being at loggerheads with the chairman said they suspect the committee boss of having been bribed by those under investigation. “That man has deliberately refused to call us for a meeting to look at that report. All we hear is that the report was ready over a year ago,” one member said. “Even if we want the trips, why don’t we meet and see what the clerks prepared and we agree whether something is lacking or not.”

In October 2011, after a heated two-day debate on the oil sector, the House resolved that an ad hoc committee to investigate the sector be instituted. According to the terms of reference, the committee was, among other things, expected to scrutinise all revenues so far received from the oil industry and where it was deposited. It was also supposed to investigate the bribery allegations leveled against the Prime Minister, Mr Amama Mbabazi, Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kuteesa and the current minister for Disaster Preparedness, Mr Hilary Onek.

The committee was supposed to report back to the House in 45 days. However, the committee is nowhere close to finish business a month to the committee’s three-year anniversary.

Sources in the committee say the MPs have so far used close to Shs150 million and the Parliament administration is on record saying it doesn’t have more money for the committee. But it has emerged that the committee is also dogged in disagreements between its members over trips.

Sources close to the committee have told this newspaper that members of the committee have refused to meet and consider a draft report for final submission to the Speaker unless Parliament avails them with funds to travel to Botswana and Angola for best practices bench-marking visits.

Mr Werikhe, however, denied claims that he was bribed to “kill” the report and says the report is “almost ready” and only waiting for the Speaker’s allocation on the Order Paper. “The report is in draft form why don’t they wait for it to come out instead of speculating whether I have been bribed or not? Supposing it turns out that we all agreed on the report would anyone say that I was bribed?”

Mr Werikhe further added that he has been pushing for the report to be debated. “Three weeks ago I went with Hon Julius Junjura and Cecilia Ogwal to meet with the Speaker because we want to put an end to this report,” he said. “What is remaining is only a final look and I want all the members to be around when we are doing that final look so that no one says that they were not involved.”

This is not the first time the committee has been dogged with controversy. The first was the disagreements within the committee during the trips to UK and Kenya over the methods used to investigate during the international visits. Following the disagreements, Ms Ogwal remained in Nairobi and threatened to come up with a minority report.

Then came the request for money to go for a retreat in order to “consider the report with out possibilities of it being leaked.” The committee members refused to look at the final draft report unless Parliament released money for a retreat.

The committee also suffered over one-month of delay when city lawyer Severino Twinobusingye took the House to court challenging the creation of the committee. Some of the MPs who were at the centre of the October 2011 oil debates have expressed disappointment over the committee’s delay to bring the report. “All I can say is that I think they were bribed and we may never see that report,” MP Banarbas Tinkasimiire said.

MP Wilfred Niwagaba, however, said the cause of the delay is the fear, by the MPs, of the President and those they were supposed to investigate. “You people thought we still had a parliament? If I were Museveni, I would not even bother bribing them because they fear him,” he said. “Unless we get bold and brave men and women we will not get anything good.”

However, Mr Werikhe promised to bring a very strong report. “Our investigations were issued based and the report is going to be strong and issue based,” he said. “Let people sit back and wait. I am sure after the budget process (early October) we will be presenting the report.”

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