Activists find oil offers irresistible
Oil workers at Ngege Oil Well in Buliisa District. Many activists are abandoning CSOs to join oil companies. PHOTO BY Francis Mugerwa.
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Hoima
Civil society activists and civil servants in the oil-rich Bunyoro Sub-region are increasingly abandoning their work and opting to undertake jobs and scholarship opportunities offered by oil companies.
This newspaper had by press time not independently established if the activists are deliberately targeted by oil firms or the activists are finding CSO work less profitable and making little headway in their demands.
Investigations by the Saturday Monitor have revealed that two outspoken activists in the area were among the recipients of the Tullow Oil group scholarships awarded to Ugandans in September and are part of the scholarship beneficiaries pursuing one-year masters degrees at selected universities in Britain.
Beneficiaries
Mr Robert Byaruhanga, the chairperson of the Hoima NGO Forum, and Mr Robert Muhangi, the former Treasurer of the Midwestern Regional Anti-Corruption Coalition, a regional anti-corruption agency, are among the 20 Ugandans who attained scholarships to study petroleum-related masters degrees in the UK.
Mr Byaruhanga flew to Britain in September and is pursuing a degree in Oil and Gas Management at the University of Coventry. He has been the Bunyoro Field regional coordinator for the Africa Institute for Energy Governance, an NGO focusing on energy, environment and extractive industries.
Mr Muhangi, who obtained a Tullow scholarship, is pursuing a Masters in Management Science and Finance at the University of Manchester. He was an accountant with Recreation for Development and Peace - RDP Uganda, a post he has held since 2008.
Mr Byaruhanga said the course will provide an understanding of the processes, drivers, threats and opportunities related to the management of the energy and oil industry in the 21st century. “The Oil and Gas Management MSc will equip me with the expertise required for leadership and management in the World’s fastest growing and dynamic energy sector” he said in an email.
Asked about the criteria used by Tullow Oil to select the scholarship beneficiaries, the company’s communication manager, Ms Cathy Adengo, stated that beneficiaries had to be Ugandan citizens and legal residents, have a minimum of an Upper Second Class degree.
The criteria further reveals that the beneficiaries had to have a track record of success in their field of endeavor plus they should have been employed at the time of application.
Ultimatums
Candidates were further tasked to demonstrate commitment to return to Uganda and make a contribution to the future development of the country. “These 20 successful Ugandans will return to contribute to the growth of the nation in broader areas of the economy beyond oil and gas,” Ms Adengo said.
The chairperson of the Bunyoro Local Oil and Gas Advocacy Group, Mr Jackson Wabyoona, said the increased exodus of activists out of CSOs to join oil firms is weakening cohesion in local CSOs. “We are struggling to maintain activists focused on oil advocacy issues because some of our colleagues are instead joining the firms they are supposed to be monitoring,” Mr Wabyoona said.
The Buliisa community development officer, Mr Emmanuel Komurubuga, abandoned civil service and joined Tullow Oil as a community liaison officer three years ago.
Mr Gard Mugiri, a former warden at Uganda Wildlife Authority, who was in charge of oil and gas monitoring, also quit public service and joined Total, which is exploring oil in Murchison Falls National Park.
