Broad participation at regional level crucial for growth of East Africa oil sector
Professor
Mwangi Kimenyi, a senior Fellow and director at the
Africa Growth Initiative (AGI), Brookings Institution, based in Washington D.C,
was in Kampala 23rd to 24th January 2013 to attend the
regional forum on Oil and Gas with a theme management for inclusive and
sustainable development of the oil sector. Esther
Nakkazi got his thoughts about the forum and the East Africa oil sector,
below are the excerpts;
1. What
is the main purpose for holding this regional oil and gas conference at this
point in time?
The main objective is to
bring different stakeholders--civil society, private sector, government,
the general public, media, donors, etc, to discuss the pertinent issues
concerning the management of natural resources and in particular oil and gas.
This is motivated by the concern that
new oil producers do not have the necessary institutional and legal frameworks
that are necessary to avoid the natural resource curse. We also want to
start a conversation as to how regional cooperation could improve the
management of oil and gas.
2.
Has it been achieved?
The goal is achieved by sharing views
amongst experts and stakeholders. The idea is to have broad
participation so that we can get the views of all concerned.
3.
Why is participation key by all citizens in this sector?
Participation is extremely
crucial. The problem that has characterized the poor management of
natural resources in many countries is the lack of transparency and
accountability. You cannot have transparency unless there is broad
participation so that the public can also hold the government to
account.
4.
Is there a particular model or best practice that African governments can use
to ensure transparency? What about a model for managing revenue, do you have
any recommendations?
Unfortunately, we do not have many
models of transparency in oil in Africa. Botswana is an exception and it
has managed to exploit natural resources under conditions of
transparency. Ghana, seems to be moving in that direction but still has
to deal with some issues. However, the two countries are much better than
the majority. They also have good frameworks for revenue
management.
5.
Why do we need a regional approach in the exploitation and management of oil
resources?
A Regional approach is crucial to
the effective management of resources especially as pertains to the
issues of environmental management, infrastructure development (such as
refineries and pipelines). Cooperating on these aspects lowers the costs
and is also more effective.
6.
Some participants felt that not all EA countries should exploit their oil
resources at the same time, basically to avoid competition and because there
may not be a viable market. Should a country like Uganda leave its oil
resources in the ground and stick to its comparative advantage of food
production?
Yes. For as long as the institutions are in
place to ensure that the resource is exploited efficiently. Ideally,
it is important to make sure that the resources go to productive sectors that
help in the transportation of the economies. The market for oil and
gas is not just local or regional it is international so there should be no
fear about the size of the market or completion amongst the East African
countries.
7.
The minister of Finance Maria Kiwanuka emphasized continuous dialogue
to build trust. What efforts should governments put in to ensure this?
The Minister made a very crucial
point that is at the heart of good management of natural resources, which
is continuous dialogue to build trust. The problem in many countries
is that governments do a lot of things in secrecy and without involving the
public. Such an approach creates mistrust as
citizens assume that governments are hiding something. We must
have continuous dialogue to exchange views and for government to provide
information to the citizens. This is the only way we can ensure that
there is trust between governments and its citizens.#
8.
After the conference what is the way forward?
We hope that participants
will continue engaging in their home countries. in particular
we hope that we shall have communicated the message of the importance of
governments to open up to the participation of stakeholders. It is a
start or a conversation that should continue. Ultimately, we hope that we
can impact on the way governments relate to the citizens in the management of
natural resources.
9.
What are some of the key lessons you have learnt from this forum?
There are several lessons that are
coming through. The first is that transparency and accountability in the
management of oil and gas is critical. Such can only be entrenched in the
society if there is flow of information from government and also if there is
effective stakeholder participation.
The other important message if that it is
crucial to carefully evaluate how revenue from natural resources are
invested. finally, we hope that it will be clear that all the countries
in the region can benefit a great deal from region cooperation in the
management of oil and gas.
10.
Who are the sponsors of this East Africa oil and gas conference?
The conference is jointly sponsored by the
Economic Policy Research Center in Uganda and the Africa Growth Institution at
the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, USA
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