Nyombi is right; details of oil deals not for every Ugandan

Dear Attorney General Peter Nyombi, I have learnt with great trepidation about attempts by MPs to compel you to reveal details of the agreements our venerable government entered into with a host of oil companies.

According to these MPs, these deals have been “shrouded in secrecy and uncertainty” that they are not sure if as a country, we got the best cut. Now, I hear some of them have been going around collecting signatures to compel Parliament to come out of recess and force you to “spill the beans”.

I don’t know what planet these MPs pushing you come from. How can they recall their colleagues when they have just taken a much-deserved break? Imagine since May when MPs were sworn in, they have been busy debating for the good of this country.

Have they seen how committed the likes of Muhammed Nsereko and Cerinah Nebanda have been? Throwing tantrums, swearing and giving saucy TV bites even on topics they have no clue about? After such work, how do the likes of Abdu Katuntu, Theodore Ssekikubo and Wilfred Niwagaba expect people who probably are now in Zanzibar or such islands to cut their break just to come and talk oil?

But even more importantly, why do these MPs think our government does not have us, Ugandans, at heart? We, the citizens, have no problem with the government (by the way who is the government?) that we have just massively voted back into power keeping a few secrets from us.

Don’t we all have our small secrets that even our spouses do not know about? So, what is the problem if some guy keeps a few documents under key-and-lock in our interest? These MPs forget that oil is not like matooke or sugar that is traded over the counter. Oil is a unique product. It takes years of study to even find out that you have it. Look at our case, it took 25 years of visionary leadership to make the find. Now that visionaries have discovered their oil, everyone wants to join the party, NO!

Let the MPs get a bottle of water, take a few sips and cool down. The government that painstakingly spent years to find the oil will do everything in the country’s interests. And there is a precedent to this.

Look at how liberalising the economy has moved the country forward. Decrepit cooperatives were replaced with flourishing SACCOs, where stood run-down regional referral hospitals are now efficient health centre IVs, education is no longer an exclusive service, millions are drinking deep from the UPE spring of knowledge.

With such a colourful record of public-interest driven initiatives, what makes MPs think the government can change character just because it is oil involved?

Also, Mr Nyombi, I heard MPs grumble that you were paying some Bazungu lawyers Shs11b to represent us in a case in London where we could lose trillions if we take matters lightly. When they looked at your budget, they were shocked to learn that you needed a few millions to buy Law dictionaries. I am told they were wondering how you could be AG when you lack basics like a law dictionary. These MPs should know that you were a First Year undergraduate decades ago. What would you be doing still keeping a law dictionary?

But here is my honest advice. Should push come to shove and you must make public the agreements, just write them in Latin and drop them in the MPs’ pigeon holes. Knowing our MPs, they will endorse them without a second look.