By Stephen Nuwagira Joseph Ntware, a resident of Kirwa village in Nyarubuye sub-county, Kisoro district, looks desolately as his five children play around the compound dressed in tatters. Although the children are of school-going age, none of them is in school. He says all the schools in the neighbourhood charge fees that he cannot afford. Ntware, a former miner at the Kirwa wolfram mine, says since activity at the mine was hit by ownership wrangles in 2002, he has not got a permanent job to enable him provide for his family. Like most of his former colleagues, he is now a peasant farmer, but can barely get enough food for his family. The Kirwa mine, located about 8km from Kisoro town, is said to be the largest with wolfram deposits in the country. It covers about seven square kilometres, with a yet-to-be verified volume and is economically viable, according to the Kisoro natural resources officer, Vincent Mudanga. Wolfram is a very precious metal today...
By Stephen Nuwagira in Accra, Ghana Uganda should constitute a committee of eminent Ugandans to monitor how oil money will be used when production starts. Citing Ghana, MP Theodore Ssekikubo said the committee would work as a third oversight layer to ensure that oil cash is spent according to plan and guard against misuse by the Government. Ssekikubo was addressing the Summer School on governance of oil, gas and mining revenues at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in Accra, Ghana over the weekend. Hon Ssekikubo He lauded Ghana for allowing civil society participation in monitoring oil revenue, saying this ensures that the interests of the ordinary citizens are catered for. The Ghanaian oil law provides for an independent committee of eminent citizens, the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC), which works as an oversight body over the way oil revenue is used by the government. Ssekikubo challenged civil society organisations in Ugan...
Public sector lawyers involved in drafting of the extractives sector laws and policies in the region will next week undergo training to improve their negotiation and policy-making skills. The training is aimed at assisting East African Community (EAC) countries to make extractive industry contracts and related policy to ensure they achieve tangible benefits from their natural resources, the East African Development Bank (EADB), which is hosting the training, said in statement yesterday. The training, that takes place from March 9-14 in Kigali, targets senior government lawyers involved in policy formulation and negotiations and law dons from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. “The training is designed to build the capacity of public sector lawyers involved in negotiating transactions and drafting agreements for extractive and other industries,” it added. The bank said the training will help reduce the risk of costly or politically-difficult dispute resolution, goin...
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