Uganda Museum receives corporate boost

CNOOC Uganda Limited, Total E&P Uganda, and Tullow Uganda Operations PTY have earlier in the week unveiled the new oil and gas section at the Uganda Museum.

Uganda’s Minister of Energy, Hon Eng. Irene Muloni, said that the project is aimed at educating and increasing awareness of the oil and gas industry to various stakeholders in Uganda and the general public.

The newly-launched section is to serve as a center for basic information and research about oil and gas in Uganda. It consists of historical information and achievements to date in the Ugandan oil and gas sector, the oil cycle, i.e., exploration, development and production, some of the equipment used during operations and related videos.

Speaking at the launch ceremony held at the Museum, Hon. Irene Muloni commended the participating oil companies for their commitment to information sharing with Ugandans.

‘The Ministry of Energy is proud to work in collaboration with the 3 joint venture partners to promote access to information, especially in Uganda where the oil and gas industry is new to us. This initiative will play a great role in shaping our future through educating the public about the oil, encouraging young minds to pursue academic studies related to the sector and also the private sector to pursue business opportunities with the oil sector’ she said.

In his remarks about the history of the project, Abdul Kibuuka, the Public Affairs and National Content Manager Tullow Uganda mentioned that the discovery of oil and gas has been a landmark event in Uganda’s history and once oil production is achieved, current and future generations will benefit from the knowledge and information provided by the oil and gas section.

Addressing the guests on behalf of the three joint venture partners, Mrs. Ahlem Friga Noy, the Corporate Affairs Manager Total E&P Uganda said that the JV partners felt a strong sense of responsibility towards the country and the need to share information on the oil sector with the public when she said: ‘Because oil and gas is often considered a complex subject, the aim of the project is to present this subject in the most simplified way for the general public using both visual and audio material’.

Mrs. Rose Mwanje, the Commissioner of Museums and Antiquities welcomed the contribution by the three partners and expressed her hope, on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, that the revamped section would assist to revitalize public interest in the museum. She invited other corporate companies to emulate the contribution made by the oil companies in order to bring the Uganda Museum back to international standards.

Due to budget constraints in the past has a major upgrade and overhaul not been possible until now and the facility largely been in a state of hibernation. The situation of the museum in fact at one time lead to an attempt to hive off the extensive museum land when the then Minister for Tourism, one Kahinda Otafiire, among his many other misteps attempted to have the museum razed and a high rise office block constructed instead. This lead to widespread condemnation and opposition from among tourism and conservation circles but did not prod government into action to allocate the resources needed to spruce up one of Uganda’s greatest sources of historical artefacts.

It has in the past been several times proposed to put up a showcase cultural village on the museum grounds, featuring the type of homesteads Ugandan’s use in the rural areas so that visitors to the city can appreciate the wide cultural variety of the many different communities, kingdoms and chiefdoms, which make