Ugandas præsident Museveni understregede torsdag i en tale til parlamentet, at udnyttelsen af landets olieressourcer vil forbedre landets udviklingsmuligheder. “We need to diversify the economy from agriculture and minerals. The oil will give us the capacity”.
Museveni talte i parlamentet efter et besøg i Rusland, hvor han i et møde med Vladimir Putin blandt andet diskuterede energi- og våbenaftaler.
Her er et par citater fra talen, bragt af Uganda-avisen Daily Monitor:
“In 1986, a team of BP Oil Company from UK came to State House and wanted me to give them a contract to explore oil near Lake Albert. I sent these people away because no Ugandan had knowledge about oil. I then embarked on sending Ugandans abroad to train in petroleum studies. We now have our own experts. Uganda has avoided and will continue to avoid mistakes that were made by some African countries.”
“The money from oil should only be used to build durable capacity for future generations. We need at least 40,000 MW of electricity. We now have about 800 MW. That level of electrification will enable us to run our economy with or without oil. We shall be able to manufacture. We shall prosper even when oil is exhausted. We need to train scientists, relying only on human muscle cannot improve our economy.”
“Oil money will also be used to construct roads, to improve agriculture though irrigation.”
