UNOC speaks out on board sacking claims

The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has said its Board of Directors fully served their tenure, which ended in February, without any issues of impropriety.

Mr Peter Muliisa, the Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer at UNOC, said the outgoing board served their final four-year term and were not dismissed by President Museveni, who is the appointing authority, as claimed.

He said the UNOC Board of Directors is appointed by the President of Uganda with the approval of Parliament to only serve for a maximum of two terms, each lasting four years.

“The current Board was reappointed for their second and final non-renewable term in February 2020, and their tenure lapsed in February 2024, in line with the law and UNOC’s governing documents,” Mr Muliisa said in a statement issued on Friday.

 “Therefore, any assertions regarding the removal of the UNOC Board due to recruitment irregularities are completely baseless and misleading.”

He was responding to reports, which first surfaced on social media, claiming that President Museveni sacked the UNOC Board of Directors over alleged recruitment irregularities.

The outgoing board was headed by businessman Emmanuel Katongole and comprised, among others, Eng Irene Batebe, Stellah Marie Biwaga, Francis Twinamatsiko, Francis Nagimesi, and Godfrey Andama.

This came on the backdrop of allegations the UNOC Board irregularly recruited city lawyer, Samantha Muhwezi, as their Chief Operating Officer (COO), prompting the alleged intervention by the President. Ms Muhwezi previously worked as the head of the legal department at Total Energies Uganda.

This website understands that the position of UNOC COO was advertised in January 2024 and ran for two weeks, per the company Human Resource policy. A total of 10 candidates applied for the job from which Ms Muhwezi was picked for the position. However, some disgruntled candidates are said to have raised concern about the recruitment process, something which the company disagrees with.

Mr Muliisa said such claims are inaccurate and malicious.  “We wish to categorically state that the claims made in the article are false and unsubstantiated,” he said.

“Therefore, any assertions regarding the removal of the UNOC Board due to recruitment irregularities are completely baseless and misleading. UNOC remains an equal opportunity employer and only recruits through a competitive process, the best talent in the market for proper execution of our projects,” he added.

The new board of directors was last week vetted by Parliament.

UNOC is a limited liability company wholly owned by the Government of Uganda. 

Its overall function is to handle the Government of Uganda’s commercial interests in the petroleum sector and to ensure that the resource is exploited in a sustainable manner.