Former Finance minister and Makerere University Chancellor Dr. Prof. Ezra Suruma has emphasised the need for the government to invest more in social security initiatives to ensure protection of human dignity.
He was delivering a keynote speech at a dialogue on improving synergies between social protection and public finance management organised by the Uganda Debt Network, in Kampala on Thursday morning.
Prof. Suruma has proposed that the government considers a referendum on the question of whether or not a percentage of oil revenues be allocated to social protection.
“We should take a referendum to decide whether a portion of the Oil money should go to social security so that we can all benefit directly from our oil especially during the hard times. We cannot leave everything to government,” Prof Suruma said.
According to the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, Uganda is now one of the most established petroleum provinces in the world, with an estimated volume of 6.5 billion barrels, with 1.4 billion barrels recoverable, of which 1.04 billion barrels are classified as reserves.
Recoverable gas resources are estimated at 500 billion cubic feet and the government has set 2025 as the target for first oil.
