04.02.

2012 PRESS RELEASE CIVIL SOCIETY OPPOSE GOVERNMENTS ILLEGAL SIGNING OF PRODUCTION SHARING AGREEMENTS WITH TULLOW OIL Background Ladies and gentlemen, you are aware that we discovered commercially viable oil reserves in the Albertine Graben. This success has been a result of Government of Uganda and Oil Companies. This is a very positive development in our country. Despite these discoveries, we have seen and continued to experience negative trends in the industry. For example; Continuing to operate on the basis of weak legal and institutional laws; Continued secrecy in the oil sector; Failure by government and oil companies to disclose signed Production Sharing Agreement (PSAs); Desputes over payment of taxes by oil companies; Allegations of oil companies bribing Ministers and other government officials; Oil companies operating on expired licenses; Issuance of licenses without competitive bidding, among others;

Due to these problems, on 11th October 2011 Parliament passed a number of resolutions, including: Halting of all activities in the oil & gas sector by government and companies until new oil laws are put in place; Tabling new oil bills in parliament within a period of 30 days; Review all existing oil agreements to remove illegal and harmful clauses such as stabilisation clauses and those on foreign arbitration; among others All ministers suspected for receiving bribes from the oil companies stepping-aside to create room for investigations to be conducted; Making all agreement public;

Despite this, government has ignored parliaments resolutions and gone ahead to: Sign new Production Sharing Agreements with Tullow Oil Failed to put in place and table in parliament new oil bills within a period of 30 days; Allowed the implicated ministers to stay in office and to preside over the signing of the oil contracts;

Continued to rely on a law that is weak and inadequate to address the demands of the industry. The implication of this is that it presents a recipe for corruption and mismanagement of the oil resource and revenues;

Additional implications of these actions by government are that: It makes parliament irrelevant contrary to the Constitution that provides for its independence; Results in the usurping the peoples power that is enshrined in Article 1 of the Constitution where all power belongs to the people of Uganda; It erodes our national sovereignty and integrity;

In response to these actions of government; 1. We are mobilising people to go to parliament to demand for the censor of the Minister and sack the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development; 2. We are going to court to challenge the constitutionality of the agreement; 3. We are working with our international partners to blacklist Tullow Oil 4. We are mobilising the communities to oppose to construction of pipelines and refineries until a new law providing for their compensation, resettlement and conflict resolutions is in place; 5. We are seeking a court injunction to prevent the implementation of contracts Signed 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Water Governance Institute (WGI) National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) Oil Watch Network Uganda (OWNU) Publish What You Pay Uganda Chapter (PWYP-U) World Voices Uganda (WVU)