Civil society wants oil, gas deals made public

Workers at an oil rig at Ngamia 1 in Kenya's Turkana County. PHOTO | FILE 

By KENNEDY SENELWA

In Summary

• The Kenya civil society platform on Oil and Gas has written to Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter and his Mining counterpart Dan Kazungu, asking for disclosure of all signed contracts to enhance transparency and cushion the country against losses in future.

Civil society organisations have asked the Kenyan government to release oil, gas and mining agreements signed with private companies for public scrutiny.

The push for disclosure of contents of all extractive agreements in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda has not been successful due to confidentiality clauses in the contracts.

The Kenya civil society platform on Oil and Gas (KCSPOG) has written to Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter and his Mining counterpart Dan Kazungu, asking for disclosure of all signed contracts to enhance transparency and cushion the country against losses in future.

“It is critical that the existing contracts are put in public domain to be reviewed to ensure terms contained therein are being followed to avoid future complications. Lack of disclosure means there is less scrutiny,” said KCSPOG co-ordinator Charles Wanguhu.

Members of the coalition are Katiba Institute, Kenya Land Alliance, Kwale County Natural Resources Network and Kenya Human Rights Commission.

Kenya has developed an early oil pilot oil production scheme of 2,000 barrels per day of crude before June this year.

“We believe transparent disclosure of tax payments helps governments, citizens and international opinion leaders to debate how wealth from oil resources should be managed sustainably and equitably,” reads a statement on the website of Tullow Oil Plc.

Tullow which has published agreements of contracts in Ghana said it supports disclosure but will only publish the documents with the express support and agreement of government partners.

“I am writing to request for copies of the mining permits, leases, licences and contracts signed by the government with companies operating in Kenya,” said Mr Wanguhu in the letter send to Ministry of Mining.

KCSPOG cited article 35 of the Constitution which allows Kenyans to seek information and requires the State to proactively publicise information that is of interest to the public.