You Owe 10th Parliament, Ugandans An Apology – Former Speaker Kadaga Blasts Pastor Kayanja For Saying Her Parliament Let Down Country….
The Minister for East African Affairs Hon. Rebecca Kadaga has tasked Rubaga Miracle Centre lead Pastor, Robert Kayanja to apologize to Ugandans for allegedly tarnishing the image of the 10th Parliament which she presided over.
According to Kadaga, Pastor Kayanja is wrongfully accusing the 10th parliament of failing to pass the budget for the construction of Uganda’s oil refinery.
Pastor Kayanja made the comments while preaching to his congregation on Easter Sunday noting that the 10th parliament had “let us down as a country.”
“There was a chance to work hard to appropriate money to construct the country’s oil refinery, but parliament did not,” Kayanja was quoted.
The former speaker, however, noted that Parliament was never presented with any budget regarding the refinery.
“Pastor Kayanja , you owe an apology to the people of Uganda and the 10th Parliament whose legacy you are distorting. No Budget for a refinery was presented or rejected, please substantiate, which meeting, which sitting, and which session this happened,” Kadaga responded.
The national oil refinery was initially part of Uganda’s oil production plan, having been conceived back in 2008.
The project was however dropped as the government prioritized the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP); a 1,443km, heated and buried crude oil pipeline that will run from Kabaale, Hoima in Uganda to Chongoleani, Tanga in Tanzania.
However, Minister of Energy Ruth Nankabirwa recently announced that the refinery project will be completed by the year 2027.
Currently, the government has completed the acquisition of the land for the project plus compensating the affected communities.
The Government also picked the Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium (AGRC) as the lead investor for the 60,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) refinery in Kabaale, in the Hoima district.
The Uganda Refinery project, which includes the development of a 211-kilometer petroleum products pipeline from Hoima to North West of Kampala, is estimated at US$ 3 – 4 billion.
By Kobusiinge Monica
Kadaga Attacks Pastor Kayanja over 10th Parliament Legacy Distortion Allegations, Tasks Him to Apologise
The Former Speaker of the 10th parliament who is now the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Ms Rebecca Kadaga has tasked Miracle Center Cathedral lead pastor, Robert Kayanja to apologize to Ugandans for allegedly “distorting” the legacy of the 10th Parliament which she chaired.
“Pastor Kayanja, you owe an apology to the people of Uganda and the 10th Parliament whose legacy you are distorting,” Ms Kadaga who was the then Speaker tweeted.
This was after Pastor Kayanja was quoted faulting Parliament for the increasing commodity prices, saying they had all the powers and responsibility to curb it.
“The 10th Parliament let us down as a country. There was a chance for them to work hard and appropriate money to construct the country’s oil refinery, but they did not,” Pastor Kayanja is quoted as saying while preaching during an Easter celebrations service at Miracle Centre Cathedral Rubaga, Kampala yesterday.
According to him, if the 10th Parliament had appropriated money to put up an oil refinery, the country would today be exporting oil instead of citizens buying fuel dearly.
However according to the Kamuli Woman MP, no budget for a refinery was presented or rejected by the Parliament she chaired by then.
“No Budget for a refinery was presented or rejected. Please substantiate; which meeting, which sitting and which session this happened,” Ms Kadaga stated.
The development comes amidst public outcry over the skyrocketing commodity prices as citizens, religious leaders and parliamentarians continue to ask the government to curb the skyrocketing prices in Uganda.
Minister of State for Trade Harriet Ntabazi said that the the only idea that will bring down the prices of commodities that require crude palm oil as inputs, including laundry soap, cooking oil and sugar is a planned expansion of the production of crude palm oil in Buvuma, Kalangala, Bundibugyo, greater Masaka and other areas.
Government ruled out any form of subsidies to cushion citizens from the skyrocketing fuel and commodity prices.
According to Ramathan Ggoobi, secretary in Uganda’s Finance ministry, issuance of subsidies “is bad economics and could get us into more trouble because it takes money to the wrong people”
