The minister of energy, Hilary Onek, urged the journalists to report only facts about the country's young oil and gas industry and not to get issues wrong. "You need to be responsible in your reporting, otherwise you can create turmoil in the country," Onek said at the launch of an information advocacy project aimed at enhancing information flow about the oil and gas industry in Uganda. "When you give out wrong information, it can destabilise the country."
Companies exploring for oil in Uganda, including the UK's Tullow Oil, have discovered up to 2.5 billion barrels of commercially viable oil deposits. The oil is estimated to be enough to place Uganda among the world's top 50 oil producers when it kicks off commercial production in 2014. Uganda is set to produce its first oil by the end of this year, the first production step towards earning at least US$2 billion per annum from commercial oil exports.
Information about the oil and gas industry has been scanty, however, because those who have it have closely guarded it. As a result, the media in Uganda is alleged to be misinforming the public about events in the industry, according to the minister. The minister noted that when the media reports wrong information, it is taken advantage of by politicians with vested interests to make the government unpopular.
Commenting on the character of politicians he said; "Some of them thrive on misinformation." According to the minister, during the just-concluded 2011 presidential and parliamentary campaigns, some malicious politicians provided incorrect information to the electorate in the race for political posts. "When you give out the wrong information, the electorate will begin to lose trust in government."
In order to minimise misreporting on the oil and gas industry, the Human Rights Network for Journalists Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda), Publish What You Pay and African Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) recently launched the 'Media on oil in Uganda' project.
At the launch of the project in Kampala, G.W. Ssebaggala, the programmes coordinator HRNJ-Uganda, said the programme would provide information and train journalists to equip them with critical skills they need to cover effectively the industry.
On Tuesday, International Alert, a UK-based non-governmental-organisation, also unveiled a new project aimed at improving information flow between the media, government, citizens and oil companies in Uganda.
"We are going to have radio programmes, we shall be on television and use various newspapers to ensure that there's that exchange of information," said Richard Businge, the senior manager International Alert in Uganda. "We have the capacity to create space and have people to come and share this information," he added.
