The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Eng. Irene Muloni has assured Ugandans that they will take up some of the jobs in the oil and gas sector as supplies, saying foreigners will only be offer services and products that Ugandans cannot provide.

The minister made the pledge during the first National Content Conference for suppliers in the Oil and Gas Sector in Uganda organised by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) at the Speke Resort and Conference Center Munyonyo, Kampala.

Eng. Muloni re-echoed government’s approach to National content, which, she said has been articulated in the existing Policy, Legal and Regulatory frameworks, including the Local Content Policy, 2018, which was passed by Cabinet in June 2018.

The conference brought together all companies that have expressed interest in supplying the Oil and Gas Sector during the year 2019.

Ernest Rubondo, the CEO of PAU said the conference was arranged to update the suppliers on the latest development in the oil and gas sector but also help them network in bid to cooperate in the provision of services and products.

The major objective of the conference is to take stock of the journey that the successful Ugandan companies have gone through, in providing goods and services to the oil and gas sector.

Uganda is currently described by the World Bank as the hottest inland exploration frontier in the world and the country to watch in the oil and gas space, due to the commercial discovery of an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of oil, 2.2 billion of which are recoverable. First oil is expected in 2022-23.

The country alongside partners intends to construct a crude oil pipeline from the oil wells in Hoima to Tanga Port in Tanzania. The construction budget for the 1,445 kilometres pipeline is to consume US$3.5 billion, part the Ugandan side will consume about US$700 million, according to planners. The pipeline is planned to have a capacity of 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It will be 24 inches (61 cm) in diameter.

Uganda also signed an agreement with a consortium, including a subsidiary of America’s General Electric, to build and operate an oil refinery in western Uganda that will cost US$3 billion-US$4 billion.

Kabaale International Airport in Hoima district is under construction. It is part of the infrastructure under construction as the country prepares to develop its nascent petroleum industry. When completed, the new airport will facilitate mobilization of equipment for construction of the oil refinery and assist in the development of agriculture and tourism in the area.

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NBS TV’s investigative reporter, Solomon Sserwanja plus his wife’s Vivian Sserwanja who works at the Ministry of Health and three other Journalists have been freed on police bond.

The three journalists Godfrey Badebye, Shafiq Kisame, Rashid Kisame, and Vivian Nakaliika were nabbed for illegally acquiring government drugs allegedly recovered from Sserwanja home situated in Mukono.

Solomon Sserwanja has too appeared at CPS Kampala and recorded a statement and was thereafter, released on police bond. Sserwanja and the three journalist have reportedly been investigating corruption and sell of government drugs in various private health facilities.

According to Ministry of Health, Serwanjja earlier informed them about the investigations however, they denounced any involvement in the journalists work.

Speaking at central police station (CPS) Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga said the force is aware of the important role the media plays in investigative reporting, debates, discussion, background and analysis, as well as new stories, not withstanding their journalistic duty to obey the ordinary criminal law in the course of their duties, and we highly commend them for their tireless efforts in fighting corruption.

“We would like to further acknowledge that Next Media in partnership with local correspondents from the BBC, while working on a tip, independently planned and carried out their operations surrounding the illegal sell of government drugs in selected government hospitals in Arua, Gulu and Kirudu,” he said

He said, it is clear that their motive was to show how easy it was to buy government drugs and its conduit and encouraged them to continue with their documentary programme and achieve their intended objective of exposing their targets, to help prevent such occurrences in future.

“The police has created a task team which is building further on the available facts on file, to establish the culprits behind the alleged theft and sale of government drugs, in these government hospitals and will ensure all suspects that are criminally liable are brought to book,” He said.

CP Enanga said they are closely working with the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecution for legal guidance on as to whether the journalists mentioned above, in their quest for a story of essential importance to society could have breached any rules on the acquisition of government drugs and its safety considerations or not.

Speaking at his temporary release, Serwanjja said this has been his the longest week of his entire life. “I have been scared and worried since the arrest of my colleagues. That night, my wife told me they had surrounded the house. I told her not to open until our lawyers came in the morning,”.

“I feel bad my wife was dragged into this. It is not fair. It is also very dangerous for her especially since she is the Ministry of Health spokesperson. I am worried about her job and safety,” he said CPS.

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The defense team for Dominic Ongwen has asked judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to dismiss 41 out of the 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity Ongwen has been charged with.

In a motion filed on Friday, February 1, Krispus Ayena Odongo asked Trial Chamber IX to dismiss more than half of the charges against Ongwen because the document that is the basis of those charges is defective. Odongo argued the defects mean Ongwen was not given notice of all the charges against him, which negatively affected how he prepared his defense and ultimately, his fair trial rights.

The defense phase of Ongwen’s trial started in September last year. To date, the defense has presented 15 witnesses. The prosecution concluded its case in April last year after presenting 69 witnesses. Lawyers for victims called seven witnesses who testified in May last year.

Ongwen is on trial for crimes he is alleged to have had a role in as a commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The crimes are alleged to have taken place between July 1, 2002 and December 31, 2005.

The motion that Odongo filed last Friday is not a single document. He filed it in four parts because he said he wanted to stay within the 20-page limit set in ICC regulations, and he did not want to ask for permission to file a lengthier single document that would be unwieldy. Odongo has given the motion the title of the “Defect Series” and divided it into part I, Part II Part III and Part IV

He said Pre-Trial Chamber II’s decision confirming the charges did not specify Ongwen’s role in relation to some of the charges. Odongo said the decision also did not define Ongwen’s intent when allegedly committing those crimes he has been charged with. In the language of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding law, these are the modes of liability.

Odongo said there are counts Ongwen has been charged with that are broad and have many elements to them, but the decision confirming the charges does not specify which of those elements apply to him. He also said the count of forced marriage does not exist in the Rome Statute.

“In plain language, does the CoC [Confirmation of Charges] Decision articulate or ‘make out’ the elements of the crimes and modes of liability charged against Mr Ongwen and support each element with factual allegation?

“Especially in this case of 70 charges and eight modes of liability against one defendant, Mr Ongwen, it should be obvious that detailed notice, as mandated by the Article 67(1)(a) of the [Rome] Statute, is required to conduct the trial in a fair manner. However, the CoC Decision falls far short of this,” Odongo said in the motion.

Pre-Trial Chamber II issued its decision confirming the charges against Ongwen on March 23, 2016. Six days later, the defense filed a request leave to appeal the confirmation of charges decision. That request was rejected Odongo said the motion filed last Friday is different from the request made on March 29, 2016.

He said, “The arguments of defects in the pleading of charges and modes of liability have not been previously litigated. In the appeal of the CoC Decision, the Defence raised an issue of the sufficiency of the reasoning of the CoC Decision.”

Odongo acknowledged the motion could be seen as late because almost three years have passed since the decision confirming the charges against Ongwen was issued. He said he filed the motion because Trial Chamber IX declined to allow the defense to file a no case to answer motion. He also said that Ongwen’s fair trial rights supersede any questions about procedure or timeliness. Odongo quoted a decision and the practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to back up his argument on the last point.

In the motion, Odongo asked Trial Chamber IX to only dismiss 14 counts Ongwen has been charged with. He does not explicitly ask the chamber to dismiss 41 counts. However, adding up the different defects detailed in the motion for dismissal, Odongo in essence asks the chamber to dismiss 41 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He may not list all the counts he is asking to be dismissed, but Odongo does offer another reason why he wants the chamber to dismiss some of them.

“Especially in light of the Trial Chamber’s denial of the Defence’s request to file a no-case-to-answer motion, there is a need – which should be obvious – to streamline the plethora of charges and modes of liability against a single accused in this case. Dismissal of defective charges and modes of liability based on notice and jurisdiction provides an avenue to pare down the ‘charge sheet’,” Odongo said in the introduction to Part IV of the Defects Series.

The 14 counts of crimes against humanity and a war crime Odongo has asked Trial Chamber IX to dismiss are persecution, forced marriage, enslavement, and conscription of child soldiers. This is in Part IV of the motion.

Odongo said charges like that of persecution are broad. Odongo has described persecution as a “catch all” crime because it has several underlying elements such as attacks on civilians and torture. He said other charges, such as forced marriage, does not exist in the Rome Statute, so Ongwen cannot be charged for such a crime.

Part II and Part III of the motion focuses on the role Ongwen is alleged to have played in the crimes he has been charged with, that is his mode of liability. Odongo has said in his motion that five modes of liability that Ongwen has been charged with are defective and should be dismissed.

The defects that Odongo has identified in relation to these modes of liability relate to the charges for attacks on the former camps for internally displaced people of Abok, Lukodi, Odek, and Pajule.

The modes of liability that Odongo has identified as defective also apply to the sexual and gender-based crimes that Ongwen has been charged with, but Odongo does not argue whether those defects apply to those specific crimes. The only defects he has identified in relation to sexual and gender-based crimes are the counts of forced marriage and enslavement.

In effect, Odongo is asking Trial Chamber IX to dismiss 27 other counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the attacks of the former IDP camps of Abok, Lukodi, Odek, and Pajule.

This leaves 29 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity Ongwen has been charged that Odongo is not contesting. He is not contesting these counts either because he has not found the charges themselves defective or because he has not found defective the modes of liability Ongwen has been charged with under those counts.

These are eight counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to the attack on Pajule; and two counts of attempted murder as a war crime or as a crime against humanity in relation to the attacks on Abok, Lukodi, and Odek. Also, Odongo has not identified defects in 15 counts of sexual and gender-based crimes.

The Single Judge of Trial Chamber IX, Bertram Schmitt, on Wednesday granted the prosecution’s request that they be allowed a 65-page limit to file a response to the defense motion. Judge Schmitt said the same limit applied to the lawyers for victims and gave February 25 as the deadline to file responses to the defense motion.

Judge Schmitt observed the defense did contravene an ICC regulation on page limits even if the motion was filed in four parts, but he noted this was “for the well-intentioned purpose of improving readability.” He declined to grant the prosecution request that the motion be dismissed because it exceeded the page limit provided in ICC regulation.

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