Uganda:SOMA ONLINE STUDY, THE HUB OF THE EAST AFRICAN ONLINE EDUCATION

OUR FIRST AIM AS SOMA IS TO DELIVER QUALITY EDUCATION TO EVERYONE,ANYWHERE AND AT ANYTIME.

Vianny Kamara-administrative assistant “our first aim as SOMA is to deliver quality online education to everyone, anywhere and at any time”. (Photo: courtesy of NYUMBANI)

What is Online Education?

Online education is a type of educational instruction that is delivered via the internet to students using their home computers, tabloids or smart phones. During the last decade, online studies have become popular alternative for a wide range of nontraditional students, include those who want to continue working full-time or raising families. Most of the time, online degree programs and courses are offered via the host school's online learning platform, although some are delivered using alternative technologies. Although there are subtle dissimilarities, the main difference between online and traditional learning is the fact that online education liberates the student from the usual trappings of on-campus degree programs — including driving to school, planning their schedule around classes, and being physically present for each sequence of their coursework.

Uganda is one of the countries with a fast rising education system with close to 6 million students enrolled in different education institutions across the country. Education particularly institutional learning has become a necessity for Ugandans as the economy is growing and this calls for a skilled labor force that can effectively work in various sectors like agriculture, tourism and energy that are the backbone of Uganda.

Education is increasingly developed from the time when universal Primary education was introduced in the late 90’s up to now when students are increasingly adapting to new methods and forms for learning and revision. One of the major challenges that Uganda has faced is the continuous use of ineffective revision material and learning material to enable students understand what they learn in classroom and excel academically. Poor academic performance in Ugandan schools is attributed majorly to lack of enough reading content for students to relate to hence hindering learning and resulting to academic failures. This is evidently seen as students at primary level, secondary level and university level fail exams prepared by their school teachers and the ones at national level which are prepared by the Uganda National Examination Board.

Organizations and companies in Uganda have reported high expenses that are involved in organizing seminars, workshops, refresher courses and trainings for their employees. Costs related to organizing workplace place include transport costs, accommodation, hire of training venue and meals for the participants all which expenditures and cause losses to big companies in Uganda as well as startups.

Soma eLearning is an online educational platform that seeks to tackle the challenge of poor academic performance by enabling students access to paid learning content (course notes, textbooks), assignments prepared by professional Ugandan teachers from across the country and as well facilitates workplace learning to enable employees attend online organizational trainings from anywhere through the use of their phones, tablets and computers. Our aim is to enable students make constructive revision through the use of mobile phones, tablets and computers by accessing lesson.notes, tutorials ,Coursenotes , answers and question guides , short tests and mini exams prepared by Ugandan teachers in written, audio and video formats. Students sign up to the platform and get the chance to choose content of their choose from kindergarten to university level and use for revision purposes. Our teachers are form different schools with a vast knowledge base that we believe is helpful for students to refer to in regards to the content and the lesson that they have prepared.

The platform has an interface that enables organizations and companies prepare online trainings for their employees. The training managers authorized by the organizations sign up on behalf of the company or organizations and carefully prepare trainings for the employees. Employees are invited through a training link to sign up and complete the modules designed by the training manager of their organization. Employees are in position to use their mobile phones, tablets and computers to sign up and attend the training from wherever they are at any time which eliminates the costs incurred by the companies to organize physical trainings , seminars and courses for their employees hence a cost effective way to conduct workplace learning.

Considering the increased use of mobile money for making payments and transfer of funds in Uganda. Soma elearning platform is integrated with the MTN Mobile money and Airtel Money Systems to enable users to make easy payments for the learning content from anywhere by use of their mobile phones. This shall ease the learning process and enable students improve self-managed digital learning as they will access revision material from anywhere at any time of their convenience.

Soma Elearning platform is making a ground contribution the transformation for the education system in Uganda through digital learning and continues to foster students learning and workplace learning through its well-designed interfaces and give the user ease to make ground research , revision and effectively improve on their learning. Subscribe for our Digital learning services today and experience our learning oriented features that facilitate fast track and improved digital learning.

WHATS THE DEFERENCE WITH SOMA

The entire team of SOMA and their desire to put up and extend education to every Ugandan and non-Ugandan is quite remarkable for me, with very limited resources this team of young dedicated youth have tirelessly worked together to put up the best revised content from the top teachers, organizational and company consultants and the most updated national syllabus to deliver the best quality material for education at the click of a button.

SOMA is not the first online study plat form online but I can guarantee you, it is the cheapest of them all, the reason we did it that way, is because our first aim as SOMA is to deliver quality online education to everyone, anywhere and at any time, trying to fill up the gap when a child has missed class because school fees is not paid on time, we as SOMA shall be there to support that child at that time because we value the fruits of education first than the value education cost, that’s the reason we are extremely cost efficient.

BENEFITS OF SOMA E-LEARNING 

Kigere Kavuma Julius-Creative Manager “Ideas are the new natural resources of the 21^st century” (photo: courtesy of NYUMBANI)

The current challenges facing traditional colleges and universities, including higher tuition and budget cuts have caused many students to search for alternatives. With nearly three million students currently enrolled in fully online study programs and six million taking at least one online course as part of their degree program, online education has clearly become one of the most popular higher education alternatives. The continually improving reputation of online learning has also helped fuel its expansion, as initial skepticism has faltered in the face of evidence that shows that online learning can be just as effective as face-to-face education.

All of this means that students, from working professionals to recent high school graduates, find many reasons to take all or some of their courses online. Below are advantages to online learning.

Lower total costs: Online programs can be a more affordable option than traditional colleges. Though not all online programs have less expensive net tuition prices than traditional colleges, associated costs are almost always less expensive. For example, there are no commuting costs, and sometimes there is also not any required course materials such as textbooks because those are often available for free online. In addition, many colleges and universities have begun to accept credits earned via free massive open online courses (MOOCs), the most recent advance in online education. Free online courses such as these can help students fulfill general education requirements at little to no cost.

More comfortable learning environment: Commercials that featuring online students studying in the pajamas only skim the surface of one of the primary benefits of online education: there are no physical class sessions. Lectures and other materials are electronically sent to the student, who will then read them and complete assignments. Students will not have to fight traffic, find parking spaces, and leave work early to go to class, or miss important family time.

Convenience and flexibility: Online courses give students the opportunity to plan their study time around the rest of their day, instead of the other way around. Students can study and work when they are at their peak energy, whether that’s early morning or late at night. Course material is always accessible online, so there’s no need to schedule special trips to a library either. All of this makes online learning a good option for students who need to balance their work and family commitments.

More interaction and greater ability to concentrate: While there is contradictory evidence about the rate of online student participation versus participation in traditional courses, one thing is certain: online courses offer shy or more reticent students the opportunity to participate in class discussions or chats with more ease than face-to-face class sessions. Some students even report that online courses are easier to concentrate in because they are not distracted by other students and classroom activity.

Avoid commuting: During snowstorms and thunderstorms, colleges may cancel classes; if they don’t, you run the risk of getting hurt in dangerous driving conditions. Rather than miss important class sessions, students in online courses can always “attend” by participating on discussion boards or in chat sessions, turn in their work on time, and watch lectures or read materials. Many students also find that the amount they save on fuel costs can be substantial if they don’t have to commute to a physical campus in general, no matter what the weather conditions may be.

Improve your technical skills: Even the most basic online course requires the development of new computer skills, as students learn to navigate different learning management systems (LMS) and programs. The skills students learn to participate in their online courses translate to many professions, including creating and sharing documents, incorporating audio/video materials into your assignments, completing online training sessions, etc.

Ideas are the new natural resources of the 21^st century, that is SOMA in nut shell, as one of the individuals who came up with this idea, we first had to pass through diversity each of us individually, some of us couldn’t afford school due to high school fees and at the same time trying to look for a job or doing a job that pays you pea nuts and it’s not on your passion either, so we sat together one day as people who share the same challenges and asking ourselves how are we going to stop this hardships. After months of discussing and deliberating, we came up with an entrepreneurial solution that both benefits the society greatly, something that is of our passion and something that earns us not very much but enough.

SOMA eLearning since the deliberations were made, it has tremendously made a lot of impact to people seeking knowledge, the first impact it has made is eliminating the economic status ‘to who gets the quality education, as one of the funding reasons of SOMA eLearning is to close the gap between the poor and the rich when it comes to getting quality education as we made sure it is absolutely affordable and accessible.

The online plat form is made in a way that the teachers who share their content are appreciated by acknowledging them on the plat form and through the proceeds received  by subscribers and it has helped teachers compare notes with each other through the online teachers page, which we believe it is putting uniformity in the flow of the syllabus system national wide, because the number of teachers at SOMA eLearning is  big enough to raise an alarm if there is a poor flow of the class room education delivery system through the comparison of their notes online, gratefully that incidence has not occurred. 

 
 somaelearning.com

Uganda:Demonstrations over age limit bill.

Museveni, Democracy or Dictatorship.

Police in Uganda have arrested several  people including an opposition leader, for demonstrating against a plan to amend the constitution and scrap the presidential age limit.

Norbert Mao, leader of the Democratic Party, was arrested alongside his supporters as they protested against the planned constitutional amendment.

For days now, a clique of legislators from the ruling party, National Resistance Movement, (NRM), has been clandestinely agitating for the removal of the age limit which would give a leeway for the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni to run for another term in 2021.

According to the constitution, anyone above the age of 75 is not eligible to run for the presidency. This means that Museveni who is 73 years old and has been in power since 1986 will be 77 years at the next election, and , therefore not eligible to run again.

Daniel Ruhweza, a professor of constitutional law at Makerere University said that amending the constitution to remove the age limit will be catastrophic.

"The writers of the constitution had a reason why they discussed it before we even debate whether or not we should remove it," he told DW. "I think it will be prudent for us to test whether the reasons for which they placed it in our constitution are justifiable reasons. Ours is a young democracy and indeed the debates around constitutionalism need a mature democracy."

Livingston Sewanyana, Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative also told DW that, "for us it [age limit] is an important safeguard considering the fragility of the Ugandan state."

However, President Yoweri Museveni has distanced himself from those agitating for constitutional amendments to lift the age limit as mere idlers.

"Part of the rumour is that there is a debate about age limit; what are you debating? Which proposal are you debating or talking about? Where is the proposal?" Museveni queried in a meeting with reporters.

However, opposition groups have described Museveni's denial of the whole plan to remove age limits as a ploy to hoodwink Ugandans and push it through his cadres or members of parliament from his party.

Most recently, James Kakooza, a legislator from the ruling NRM party who is also renowned for having pushed for the removal of the presidential term limits in 2005, has embarked on another political maneuver to push for the removal of presidential age limit.

"I think there was a contradiction in the constitution. If somebody has the ability, then you cannot remove that democracy from the people," Kakooza said.

            Social media and youth against removal of age limit.

The members of the peoples democratic party on the campaign against the age limit bill to be forwarded to parliament.

Social media has been awash with the debate on removing presidential age limit with some youth groups even organizing mock birthday parties for President Museveni. They have also coined a slogan that says, "Age limit is the Limit." On several occasions they have clashed with police while rallying Ugandans on the streets of Kampala to join their campaign against lifting of the age limit.

Although the bill has not yet been tabled in parliament for debate, the speaker of the Ugandan parliament Rebecca Kadaga said that some legislators have been threatened not to amend the constitution.

"Members [parliamentarians] are being targeted, they are receiving threatening messages and I want to assure the country that I have not seen any bill. It is not here but there is anger everywhere," she told parliament.

On the streets of Kampala, the idea of lifting the age limit is not so popular. Jacquelyn Kakunzi told DW that, "our democracy is not stable. In Uganda today where 75 percent of Ugandans are youth and below the age of 35 weare really creating a situation where the youth cannot be leaders."

Opposition leader Kizza Besigye has also raised concerns and denounced the move to lift the age limit. Besigye who has lost to Museveni in the previous four elections has been calling for an uprising and reject the proposals. "The way forward, we recommend that all pro-democracy forces should focus on terminating control of power by the NRM junta," Besigye said.

THIS IS MY CANCER STORY

THE DANGERS FACING REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENTS IN AFRICA

"Many of these governments believe that stability and economic growth “will improve” over time. It seldom does". 

Numerous people have asked me for my thoughts regarding revolutionary governments.

Indeed, Africa has seen numerous governments come to power through revolutions - some relatively peaceful, some very violent. Invariably, the scars of the revolution remain and left unattended can result in an uprising of the populace or even a counter-revolution.

Without exception, every revolutionary government I have come into contact with is already politically and economically fragile with growing security and stability challenges. Without acknowledging their fragility and taking the necessary actions to strengthen the Pillars of State, they find themselves on the road to failure.  

Some of these revolutions have been internally motivated and some inspired and motivated by foreign interests. Regardless of how they came to power, most African revolutionary governments have similar characteristics. Failure to manage these characteristics can result in the government becoming a failed state.

Many of these governments believe that stability and economic growth “will improve” over time. It seldom does.

As these governments tend to be caught up in the moment, they miss the numerous threats and challenges facing them – until it is almost too late.  This failure results in them ultimately being forced to fight several fires on numerous fronts with little if any significant impact.

The lack of substantial visible improvements to their lot is usually viewed by the populace as an inability of the government – or even a lack of interest - to provide them with much needed security and stability.  This is especially prevalent in the early days of a revolutionary government.

It is, however, the characteristics of a revolutionary government that define its initial weaknesses. I view these characteristics and weaknesses as follows:  

1.     An over optimistic view of the future

2.     A belief that the majority of the populace share their visions for the future

3.     A lack of strategic, operational and tactical intelligence

4.     Lack of – or a fractured grand strategy

5.     Lack of – or a fractured national security strategy

6.     Lack of an acceptable Constitution

7.     A weak central government

8.     Fragmented powerbases

9.     Fragmented popular support

10.  Porous borders

11.  A lack of basic services

12.  A breakdown of law and order coupled to an increase in general and organized crime

13.  The uncontrolled flow of weapons

14.  Strong militia groups, each with their own agenda

15.  Disunity of the security forces coupled to questionable loyalty

16.  The polarization of popular support that can result in assassinations, bombings, protests etc.

17.  A lack of cohesion, communication and cooperation between the security forces

18.  An increase in Internally Displaced People (IDPs)

Left unattended, these characteristics/weaknesses will result in an increase in negative media reporting, both locally and internationally as both the mainstream and social media exploit the situation. This negative perception results in a lack of inward investments, depriving the new government of much needed foreign investment and economic growth. This creates a ripple-effect across the population and often results in the populace becoming poorer than they were before the revolution.

Additionally, this creates the climate for a counter-revolution to be planned and launched by disgruntled militia groups and sectors of the previous regimes supporters. The counter-revolution will often manifest itself through acts of terror such as assassinations, bombings, an increase in violent crime, attacks against the leadership of the security forces and threats against the political and business leadership.

This volatile situation “empowers Salesmen to impersonate Statesmen” (credit to “Lionberger”s comment on my posting “The Specialists”) who simply add fuel to the fire as these salesmen- with no track record of success - dispense their bad advice at great financial and political cost to the government.  Equally unforgivable is the selling of security equipment to these governments that will have little if any use to securing the State.

Until revolutionary governments acknowledge and manage/rectify their weaknesses and find the correct people to advise and assist them, they will remain fragile and position themselves on the cusp of failure. 

Uganda:Where beauty means bleaching

"There seems to be a strong desire for browner or fairer skin,Yet at the same time, there is shame and secrecy to it."

 

 Living in Uganda, German photographer Anne Ackermann couldn't ignore the sight of light-skinned women with obviously dark feet, elbows and joints.

As someone who regularly documents issues surrounding beauty, identity and womanhood, Ackermann's natural curiosity led her to Mama Lususu.

Mama Lususu, which translates to the "mother of beautiful skin," owns popular beauty parlors across downtown Kampala and is famous for helping women to bleach and lighten their skin tone. She also helps to repair skin damaged by the improper use of bleaching chemicals or even stain removers at home.

Skin lightening, a common practice in Uganda, is something that few women will admit to even though they were willing to be photographed by Ackermann in Lususu's parlor. Some of Ackermann's subjects even tried to tell her they were born with lighter skin.

 

 

 

"There seems to be a strong desire for browner or fairer skin," Ackermann said. "Yet at the same time, there is shame and secrecy to it."

 

The ideal skin tone in Uganda appears to be caramel, Ackermann said. One client told her "brown women shine brighter in the dark night." Women are willing to apply harsh chemicals and carcinogens to lighten their skin, which surprised Ackermann because the process is also so harmful.

"I am learning that there seems to be a serious pressure for women to fit into dominant beauty stereotypes in a society based on the belief that the fairer and lighter is associated with beauty and wealth," she said.

Besides photographs for her ongoing series, the experience at Lususu's has also afforded Ackermann with new memories and a unique perspective of Kampala.

 

 Photographer Ackermann.

 

 "there seems to be a serious pressure for women to fit into dominant beauty stereotypes in a society based on the belief that the fairer and lighter is associated with beauty and wealth,"

 

 

Besides photographs for her ongoing series, the experience at Lususu's has also afforded Ackermann with new memories and a unique perspective of Kampala.

"Just hanging out around the tiny wooden cabins in Mama Lususu's parlor in the hustle and bustle of downtown Kampala -- the air heavy with chemicals, watching and chatting to the women that showed up there from all walks of life -- was a great experience after trying to gain access for so long," she said.

 

 Ackermann says her project is far from over, and she wants to keep documenting this process while broadening the scope to include other issues of beauty and identity. She has also started another series on beauty and plastic surgery, which is new to the region.

Ackermann has previously documented body and identity issues. Her 2009 series "Plástica" followed women after plastic surgery in Brazil.

She is now on a quest to find other projects that portray surprising and positive stories in Uganda. And she hopes her images will cause people to reflect on the undertones of identity.

"I think it's all about raising a question rather than finding all the answers," she said. "If I can make people pause their everyday routine for a moment, look at the images, stop and wonder, I think that's a lot."

 

 

Israel and Uganda,Refugees-for-arms deal

Despite this week's Ugandan media expose of an under-the-table refugee deportation agreement already challenged in Israel's Supreme Court, Kampala is still in denial. And the deportees, who sought safe haven in the Promised Land, face a bitter fate

 A leading Ugandan newspaper made a splash this week with the front page headline: "Israel sends 1,400 refugees to Uganda". The behind-the-scenes deal between Israel, Uganda and Rwanda has been exposed for some time in Israel, but Uganda officially continues to deny its existence. It’s therefore significant that Sunday Vision, a paper owned by the government, has publicized - and legitimized - the story.

The newspaper reported in its September 10 edition that it had interviewed ten refugees who said Israel had  promised to resettle them in Uganda, only for them to have been abandoned and harassed by state agents in Kampala.

"We were each promised that we would be given legal status once we landed at Entebbe. My other friends opted for Rwanda. Each one of us was given about $3,500, which they told us was an extra incentive at the departure lounge in Tel Aviv," Hebreges Tayes told the newspaper.

Israel and East Africa are thousands of miles apart, with little in common, but history has led to a series of intersections between them.

Around 1903, a slice of East Africa (the so-called "Uganda Plan") surprisingly emerged as a stop-gap homeland for persecuted Jews before present day Israel became the more obvious choice.

Then on July 4, 1976, Israeli Defence Forces' planes refuelled at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Kenya on their way to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where a daring raid ended in the rescue of mostly Israeli nationals whose Air France plane had been seized by Palestinian hijackers, backed by eccentric Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the 40th anniversary of the rescue when he visited Uganda and Kenya last year; his brother Yonatan,the operation's commander, lost his life in the raid.

But over the last three years or so, Israel's latest rapport with East Africa has raised eyebrows in the region and within the international community. This time, it's certainly not a story of heroism.

The latest intersection concerns an unpublished agreement to facilitate the deportation of African asylum seekers and refugees in Israel to "third countries" – namely, Uganda and Rwanda. Israel's estimated 38,000 asylum seekers are mostly from Eritrea and Sudan. Fleeing repression, they faced rape, torture and blackmail on their trek through the Sinai to Israel's southern border.

Persistent reports suggest that Kampala and Kigali are getting Israeli weapons, military training and other forms of aid in return, but just like their counterparts in Jerusalem, officials in both countries refuse to talk about any quid pro quo refugees-for-arms deal.

However, with NGOs and human rights activists going to court in Israel, which recently ruled that the deportations can go ahead but deportees who resist can't be held in detention for more than two months, the Israeli authorities have owned up more fully.

It took the lifting of a gag order in 2013 to first reveal the agreement in Israel. Rwanda acknowledged it in 2015 including the multi-million dollar monetary compensation involved.

 But no such transparency exists in Uganda, so the government remains adamant there's no such agreement. Since Sunday's Vision expose, there has still not been an official government response.

Indeed, only last week, government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told me point-blank that there are no Eritreans and Sudanese arriving from Israel on Ugandan soil.

"We have cross-checked that information, even with Rwanda and our Immigration Department, we don't have those people," he said. "We don't know why they [Israelis] circulate that information, we don't have an agreement with them and we don't have Eritreans or Sudanese or any other nationality [here] on the basis of an agreement with the Israelis."

Mr Opondo further said that the Ugandan authorities had challenged the Israelis to produce the list of people they have sent to Uganda but got no response.

"Uganda is welcoming to refugees, so why would we hide these ones?" he queried.

Asked about an arms deal as the possible explanation for the secrecy, Mr Opondo retorted, "Do we need to buy arms secretly? We are not under an embargo, and if we want to purchase arms from Israel, it is not under an embargo either."

Of course, the arms business is legendary for its secrecy.

Uganda and Israel have a longstanding relationship based on military procurement, with Netanyahu playing a key role. A Haaretz journalist last year revealed that Netanyahu, while working as finance minister in 2005, visited Uganda with arms manufacturer Silver Shadow Systems. The trip was paid for by the Uganda government to the tune of $57,000.

With both Uganda and Rwanda led by former guerrilla leaders who today boast of two of Africa's most competent armies, it is difficult to see beyond arms as the main factor behind the East African countries' readiness to host Israel's "infiltrators", as its right-wing ministers are wont to call asylum-seekers.

If Uganda, for instance, was taking them in on humanitarian grounds, rather than deny it, government officials would have made it a point to trumpet the gesture and invoke the spirit of pan-Africanism, just as it has done with theone million or so South Sudan refugees in the north of the country.

But with the Sunday Vision expose, which nevertheless incorporates more denial by government officials, there's nowhere to hide any more. According to Sunday Vision, the refugees live in a "stateless limbo" in Kampala while those who get fed up are tempted to make illegal border crossings that expose them to blackmail and abuse at the hands of smugglers and security forces.

Uganda's vehement denial notwithstanding, if Israel and its East African partners had succeeded in keeping this arrangement under wraps, NGOs and human rights groups would not have found the ammunition needed to take to Israel's Supreme Court to challenge it at all. Rights groups argues that, for African refugees in Israel, choosing between detention in Israel, a return to potentially life-threatening Eritrea or relocation to Uganda with $3,500 in hand, is no choice at all.

Therefore, the quiet agreement, contrary to what the Uganda government spokesman claims, is for all intents and purposes an unholy alliance created to deliver mutual benefits.

Israel desperately wants to uproot 38,000 African refugees from its territory and in Uganda and Rwanda it has found governments that will do anything to lay their hands on Israeli arms, hence the vow of secrecy and conspiracy of silence.

Unfortunately, the danger with such a secretive arrangement is that after Israel has achieved its objective and Uganda and Rwanda have got theirweapons, no one really cares about the deportees.

Uganda might have won international acclaim for its generous refugee policy, but that is with regard to well documented refugees arriving from warring neighboring countries who come with low, if any, expectations.

According to a story published by Al Jazeera, the deported individuals have no legal status in Uganda and have to fend for themselves.

The Sunday Vision article adds that some refugees, having failed to settle in Uganda, have attempted to relocate to Europe by way of the treacherous and often fatal boat routes operated by people smugglers across the Mediterranean Sea.

For the young men who braved the torturous Sinai desert trek in search of a better life in the Holy Land, it's been  a rude awakening. But the luckless, desperate deportees won't find their Promised Land in Uganda, either.

WHERE IS EAST AFRICA'S OIL

IS IT POLITICS OR JUST FINANCE THAT'S DELAYING THE DEVELOPMENT OF EAST AFRICA'S OIL 

Delays and disagreements have slowed down the extraction and exportation of new oil discoveries in Kenya and Uganda.

It was not long ago that East Africa was the shining frontier of the continent’s oil scene. Uganda sparked the rush in 2006 after wildcatters ventured deep inland and made Africa’s largest onshore discoveries in decades. And Kenya’s north­western Turkana region continued the run with new oilfields found in 2012.
With crude prices averag­ing almost $112 per barrel at that time, it was hoped these fresh discoveries could be linked up with a new regional pipeline network stretching from South Sudan to the coast. It was believed that oil could economically transform the East African region.
Yet a decade on, little progress has been made on the pipeline, while Uganda and Ken­ya’s oil remains trapped far from interna­tional markets.
Security risks have hindered developments, while the steep drop in crude prices from late-2014 has slowed things down. However, politics – both domestic and regional – have also been central to the delays.

Domestic politics

Uganda

 

         Museveni says he’s “not excited” about Uganda’s oil. Is anyone anymore?

In Uganda, where government estimates suggest reserves of 6.5 billion barrels, a consensus has now been reached to develop an export pipeline by the early-2020s . But this has only come after various disagreements deferred developments.
It took years, for example, for Presi­dent Yoweri Museveni to back down from his original idea of meeting East Africa’s petroleum needs through a large-scale oil refinery. This was widely regarded as an uneco­nomic proposition and a smaller-scale option has now been accepted.
Progress was also stalled by a series of drawn out tax disputes in Ugandan and London courts. However, it was Museveni’s hard bargaining with international oil companies over the terms of production licenses that brought things to a crawl, with the two sides finally reaching an agreement in August 2016.
To his credit, Museveni has provided Uganda with a relatively favourable deal. But it came at the cost of delaying oil production for several years.

Kenya

In Kenya, after much fanfare following its first oil discovery, there have only been mar­ginal exploration gains of late. Estimates of recoverable oil in the South Lokichar Basin of the Turkana region have now risen to 750 million barrels according to operator Tullow.
Nevertheless, low-cost onshore oil continues to draw in big players from the global energy industry. Just this week, the French oil major Total entered the scene after acquiring Maersk Oil and Gas, along with its Kenyan assets. Alongside partners Tullow and Africa Oil, it will look to bring Kenyan oil to international markets.
However, an unhealthy relationship between local and national politicians could present an impedi­ment to production. This was most recently demonstrated in the August 2017 elections. During the campaign, President Uhuru Kenyatta sparred with Turkana governor Joseph Nanok over the president’s refusal to sign a bill that would grant the county a high share of oil revenues.
Turkana been neglected by Nairobi for decades, and local politicians are now wrestling to control new resources brought in by oil develop­ment. This led to a suspension of oper­ations for several weeks in 2013 due to local protect, and again in June this year as locals blocked roads and seized oil company assets.
In Turkana, grievances over a lack of jobs and development will not go away because the election season is over. Kenyatta will need to work towards a compromise with county politicians and local communities if the industry is to make further progress.

South Sudan

Since its separation from Sudan in July 2011, South Sudan’s oil industry has been severely undermined by political interven­tion and armed conflict. Oil production was around 350,000 barrels per day around the time of independence, but only 130,000 barrels per day in early-2017, accord­ing to government officials.
The government has ambitious plans to more than double the current produc­tion rate, but South Sudan needs a significant period of internal stability before oil companies will be willing to take the risk to invest in revitalising its aging oilfields. Without investments in enhanced oil recovery or significant new discoveries, output from South Sudan’s current oilfields will not reach pre-civil war highs again.
The best prospects for new oil are in Jonglei state. But the large, isolated and unstable region is hardly a desirable destination for low-cost, risk-free exploration. Total has been flirting with exploring there for decades. It was recently in fresh talks with the government, along­side partners Tullow Oil and the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC), but negotia­tions broke down in April.

Regional tensions

Uganda

Beyond ongoing domestic challenges, regional relations have also emerged as a complex challenge. In landlocked Uganda, this has centred on whether to opt for a pipeline to the coast through Kenya – via Turkana’s oil reserves – or through Tanzania.
It was only after years of wrangling with the former that Uganda recently announced construction would soon start on a pipeline through the latter. The plan is that the estimated $3.9 billion, 1,443km pipeline will run from Lake Albert down the western edge of Lake Victoria and to the Tanzanian port at Tanga.
If the decision holds, it means that East Africa may eventually have to construct two separate pipelines. Uganda could have saved the region costs by joining up with Kenya’s pipeline, but it was concerned about security and delays from land disputes in Kenya’s restive north. Kampala was also keen to avoid over-dependence on Nairobi as its dominant trade gateway.
In its bid, Tanzania offered to lower tariffs on the pipeline to competitive rates. It presented a more feasible timetable, fewer land acquisition constraints, and lower security risks.
However, this option will not necessarily be problem free. Over the 30-40 year lifespan of the oil production, politics in both countries will certainly shift, and Tanzania could take advantage of its position as Uganda’s only transit route.
The wildcard in the region’s pipeline politics will be whether Total – given its recent entry into Kenya and majority stakes in Uganda – revives the idea of building a pipeline from Lake Albert to the Kenyan coast, and ditching Tanzania altogether.

 

Kenya

Depending on how this pans out, Kenya may still need to go it alone in building its own pipeline. President Kenyatta says a route from Turkana to Lamu will spur development in the marginalised region and that new economic opportunities will dampen security con­cerns. However, others fear that political elites are looking to further enrich themselves through land grabs in the north.
In any case, the persistence of lower global oil prices means that, in absence of a new deal with Uganda on a regional pipeline, Kenya will likely need to discover more oil if investors are to see financing a Kenya-only pipeline as a fruitful ven­ture.

 

South Sudan

South Sudan may have attained political freedom in 2011, but it is still dependent on a pipeline through Sudan to export oil, the government’s main source of rev­enue.
A deal was struck late last year to extend the arrangement between Juba and Khartoum until the end of 2019. The agreement includes a sliding scale for transit fees, which will help ensure that South Sudan does not run a loss when global prices are low.

 However, the political relationship between the two Sudans is anything but stable, as the short border war in 2012 demonstrated. Khar­toum may attempt to extract new political and economic concessions from South Sudan when the current agreement expires.

       Source: Petroleum Economist.

 

It’s the politics

After years of domestic and regional political wrangling, some progress may be being made in terms of extracting and exporting East African oil. But many disputes are yet to be resolved, while others may still heighten uncertainties.
The undefined and porous borders across Africa, for instance, could lead to further quarrels. Uganda’s exploration on the borer of Lake Albert is already being protested by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Meanwhile, Kenya’s push for maritime exploration in the Indian Ocean is being contested by Somalia.
The implementation of international rulings on disputes elsewhere in Africa – for example, between Nigeria and Cameroon – could set important precedents in solving such border disagreements.
Over a decade on from the initial discoveries, East Africa’s oil is still yet to deliver on its promises. There have been many factors behind the delays, but many have been caused by domestic and regional politics, both of which will continue to be central in determining the success of new growth opportunities.

 A version of this article was originally published in the AFRICAN ARGUMENTS.