TRIBALISM? Uproar as One Region Dominates UNOC’s List of Phenomenal Women Shaping Oil & Gas Sector

A graphic showcasing women shaping Uganda’s oil and gas sector has put Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc) in the spotlight, raising concerns on tribalism against the public company responsible for managing the government’s commercial interests in the petroleum sector and ensuring that the resource is exploited in a sustainable manner.

Although the full list featured 20 phenomenal women under the age of 40, the four images shared online were dominated by names from one region of the country.

Ugandans on microblogging site X quickly gave their views, accusing UNOC and government of tribalism. Here are some of the views:

“Congratulations to these phenomenal UNOC ladies who are actively shaping the oil and gas sector and leaving their mark,” Unoc captioned the images of the four phenomenal women representing the rest.

Arrest whichever traitor finds a problem with this national representation, especially those from lazy communities – Jim Spire Ssentongo (@SpireJim)

If you don’t come from a certain region, you can not understand the oil and gas things – I L @iluyimbazi

Why is our diversity not represented? Don’t we have people from WestNile, Teso, Acholi, Lango, Buganda etc? Our rich diversity must be portrayed in national entities. – Alfred Afeku Njoroge @afekualfred

Lack of diversity in these appointments, this has always been our major concern as Ugandans. There is an urgent need to exhibit government parastatals and ministries to ascertain the level of tribalism.  People will be shocked. We deserve equal opportunities please – @Burg @Burg256

Among other roles, Unoc is responsible for investigating and proposing new upstream, midstream, and downstream ventures, developing indepth expertise in the oil and gas sector, and participating in joint ventures in which it holds an interest on behalf of the State.

According to its website, Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) Limited is a limited liability company solely owned by the Government of Uganda (GOU). It was established under Section 42 of the Petroleum (Exploration, Development, and Production) Act and Section 7 of the Petroleum (Refining, Conversion, Transmission and Midstream Storage) Act, both of 2013. It was incorporated under the Companies Act of 2012 as a limited liability company on June 12th, 2015.

Over the years, President Yoweri Museveni’s government has been accused of favoring the Banyankore and other tribes from western Uganda in the military and public service. However, Museveni has previously defended himself and warned Ugandans against dragging the UPDF into tribalism talk. (Read Stories Here and There).