Bunyoro Region wants 12.5 per cent of Uganda oil funds

The King of Bunyoro, Omukama Gafabusa, on Thursday appeared before the parliamentary committee on natural resources where he witnessed the presentation of a petition asking that government considers his subjects in the management of the country’s oil resources which have been discovered in the sub-region.

“For the first time, I am doing this during my 17 years on the throne of Bunyoro-Kitara,” he told the committee. “I am presenting this petition as a major stakeholder that the draft petroleum Bill has ignored. I have been ignored in spite of the fact that the Uganda Constitution recognises my mandate as a trustee for my subjects.”

In the petition read to the committee by Major Kakooza Mutale, one of his subjects, the king wants the committee to propose that 12.5 per cent of the total revenue from oil reverts to Bunyoro in royalties. “The Bunyoro Kingdom is ready to support the NRM government in all its efforts to develop the petroleum industry and this petition is a statement of support but government should observe the rights and entitlements of the people of Bunyoro,” Major Mutale told the committee.

02 June 2012