Suruma calls for referendum on oil money
Prof Ezra Suruma, Chancellor of Makerere University. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- The First Deputy Prime Minister and minister for East African Community Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, commended the government for striving to promote social protection.
Former Finance minister, Prof Ezra Suruma, has urged the government to consider conducting a referendum on the use of oil wealth to ensure all citizens benefit from funds accrued from oil.
Giving a keynote address on improving synergies between social protection and public finance management in Uganda at a social protection dialogue held in Kampala yesterday, Prof Suruma said citizens must be consulted on how the country should spend its oil money.
He noted that although a referendum may not be popular with bureaucratics who might want to have a monopoly on management of oil revenue, it is necessary.
“People can be asked if they would like to receive shares in a permanent fund that would grant them the right to gain directly from the oil earnings. With that fund in place, all citizens will be allowed to participate in the decision on how to allocate it,” Prof Suruma said.
He added: “We need a referendum so that it is participatory, inclusive, people driven and bottom up to ensure oil wealth is allocated efficiently, non-corruptly, and equitably.”
He said 50 percent of the net revenue from oil can be placed at the disposal of the people through Uganda Petroleum oil Fund to make oil a blessing to Uganda and achieve prosperity for all.
In 2006, Uganda discovered commercial oil deposits in Bunyoro sub-region and according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, the first oil drill is expected to commence in 2025.
The ministry says Uganda’s oil resources in the Albertine Graben are currently estimated at 6.5 billion barrels out of which 1.4 billion barrels are technically recoverable.
Prof Suruma said Ugandans need social protection so that no citizen is homeless, left to starve to death or live without basic medical care or health insurance. As a result, he said an oil fund should be created to secure wealth for future generations.
Prof Suruma said in Norway, payments from oil companies to the government have been placed in a fund called the Norwegian pension fund. These fund is managed by professional fund managers.
“I have been working for Uganda since 1973 and I have been working for the current government since 1987 but I don’t have a pension. Can you imagine?” he said.
The First Deputy Prime Minister and minister for East African Community Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, commended the government for striving to promote social protection.
She, however, said more financial support is needed for the sector.
