An Analysis on the Efficacy of the Uganda’s Legal Regime Guaranteeing Safety Concerns in The Oil and Gas Industry in Uganda

Abstract

The Oil and Gas industry is increasingly challenged by a wide array of health and safety risks given its hazardous nature. Uganda as the latest safe haven for the resource has proactively developed a practical legal regime specific to environmental health and safety. Industry operators are already evolving towards self-regulation while a number of industry players are waiting to comply with the prescribed laws and policies. The research therefore sought to analyze the extent of compliance to environmental health and safety standards in the oil and gas industry in Uganda. Based on an in-depth analysis of the basic laws and regulations concerning the broad management and administration of the oil sector, including among other things of the laws and regulations pertaining to the ownership of oil resources, the issuing of oil licenses and concessions, and the safeguarding of environmental requirements, the author critically evaluates the main strengths and weaknesses of the current legal-regulatory oil regime. The author comes to a sobering conclusion regarding the choices that the Ugandan government has made concerning the way it aims to manage its oil sector. To do so, the research set up questions upon which the research objectives were based; to examine and identify the environmental health and safety impacts caused by oil and gas exploration and production sector in Uganda, analyze the extent of compliance with national policy, international and regional legal framework, and propose mechanisms for improving environmental health and safety law compliance in Uganda. The paper concludes that first, Uganda's legal and policy framework is not yet comprehensively developed to achieve a preventative approach to health safety in the oil and gas sector. Second, Uganda needs to invest in strengthening capacities across the enforcement agencies due to the glaring lack of scientific and technical knowledge for good policy making to achieve a preventative safety and health culture in the industry.