African governments should not mix politics with crucial business ventures including the extractive sector, which is considered one of the big contributors in world economy.Stakeholders convening for training on reporting gas and oil issues in Kampala mid this week expressed the concerns saying political ‘meanders’ have fatally wounded the lucrative sector in Africa.
“Decisions based on political interests have seriously injured development of the extractive sector, and socio-economic set up of the African communities,” said Principal Geologist in Uganda’s department of petroleum exploration and production, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.
Abeinomugisha Dozith
The geologist expressed fears about sustainability of the sector in some African counties citing Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda where politics had created considerable setbacks in the sector.
“If technical people are not allowed to do their work due to political interference, entire communities will never benefit from the resources,” He said.
He further called on Africans countries that are blessed with the gas, oil and mining resources to provide room to technical people to do their jobs to bring about positive impact to the entire society.
In his presentation titled ‘exploration, development and production overview of oil and gas,’ presented at a training for journalists from Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda mid this week the geologist said if the petroleum sector is well managed it can transform other sectors.
African countries should build capacity to local people to participate in the sector so as to make the local and the country to improve the people’s economic standard, he said.
“Since most of African countries do not have enough human resources to work in the sector, we need to train manpower to work in the sector,” Abeinomugisha noted that during the training.
However, due to unfamiliar terminology in the oil and gas sector the geologist called on media houses to designate specific journalist who can effectively report on the sector by helping the community to understand what is available in the sector.
He said technical terms in the sector have been misused because there are no specific journalists who have been trained to report in the sector.
“Report responsibly, avoid sensational reporting because the oil and gas industry has high risk /high reward, capital intensive, international, and potential to disrupt other sectors,” he added.
Meanwhile, Denis Kusaasira, a lawyer and expert in mineral law and policy stressed the power of media in promoting the industry and helping the government and communities through their profession because media is well trusted.
The lawyer said when media write the government will read and listen to them, therefore media can enforce good governance by understanding what’s involved.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
No Comment to " Avoid bringing politics in business, govts told "