Blog

The Albertine Graben Refinery Project in Hoima will be one of the big oil and gas infrastructure projects to look out for in 2023 in Uganda and Africa. The 60,000 barrels per day refinery is one of the 70 new oil and gas projects that are expected to take off in Africa during the year.

A U.S. group Albertine Graben Energy Consortium Partners (AGEC) has already agreed to take the USD 4.5 billion Final Investment Decision in the refinery raising hope that the project would finally take off after years.

A meeting in the US by President Museveni and Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium (AGRC), led by Rajakumari Jandhyala- President and CEO of YAATRA Africa agreed that negotiations on pending issues should commence with a view of concluding the deal.

A State House statement issued in early December said the Final Investment Decision (FID) to be taken by the East African Energy Security Transition Investment project is expected in 2023. Like elsewhere in the world, in negotiating the refinery project, Uganda will be faced with a number of difficult decisions. Among the tough decisions when considering the refinery will be the need to protect the environment and a secure, affordable, and low-carbon energy one.

The beginning of the year 2023 is likely to pave the way for a number of negotiations that once concluded and agreed to, then a Final Investment Decision (FIDS) will be taken by the investors. The government of Uganda has in the past been accused of being a rigid and tough negotiator. Could the ongoing debate about the energy transition see a change in the negotiation?

The negotiation of the agreements comes at a time when the longer-term trend of decarbonization is affecting oil and gas investment decisions globally. Earlier in the year, Petroleum Authority’s Executive Director, Ernest Rubondo told journalists that negotiations on the implementation and shareholder’s agreements were some of the pending issues related to the refinery project.

The other pending agreement relates to the crude oil supply agreement for the Uganda Oil Refinery Project. While the refinery is intended to supply crude for the local markets and that of east Africa, there should be a balance to ensure that the East African Crude Oil Pipeline is adequately supplied with crude

The investor in the refinery equally needs assurance that there will be enough crude (60,000 barrels per day ) of oil to keep the refinery operational as the bigger part of the crude will be exported through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

In 2018, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development), signed a Project Framework Agreement (PFA) with Albertine Graben Energy Consortium (AGEC), in relation to the designing, financing, construction and operation of a 60,000 barrels per day refinery at Kabaale in Hoima district.

Environment laws and Regulations

An Environment Impacts Assessment (EIA) study for the project undertaken by a joint venture between DVCL consulting from Norway and Atacama Consulting Company had been completed by early 2022. The Front End Engineering Design(FEED) for the refinery has been completed by January 2022.

National Environment Management Authority was expected to have approved the EIA before the end of the year. Meanwhile, PAU’s Director in charge of Midstream Operations, Dozith Abeinomugisha in August confirmed to URN that the cabinet had reviewed the FEED and that the Refinery project was found to be safe, technically sound, and environmentally compliant.

An FID in 2023 is expected to usher the project toward the last miles with a Detailed Engineering, Procurement and Construction Phase. The Ministry of Energy hopes that Refinery will be commissioned in 2027 two years after the first oil in 2025.

It is not yet clear whether the investors have secured enough guarantees to finance the project. 2022 was particularly challenging for Uganda’s oil and gas projects like the East African Crude Oil Project and others. With the energy transition debate, a number of anti-fossil campaigners have been targeting some of the large banks from financing EACOP and the refinery projects.

Are major Banks willing to finance the refinery?

At the sidelines of the recent US- Africa leaders’ summit, President Museveni and the AGRC officials met with the Presidents and Chief Executive Officers of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Eastern and Southern Trade and Development Bank (TDB). It is not clear whether the two banking institutions gave the undertaking to finance the project.

PAU Executive Director, Ernest Rubondo said Uganda’s oil industry like the rest of the world is working to try to transition to a cleaner world. “Indeed as a result of that reduction of investment in the oil and gas sector, it could become difficult to find money to put into the investments.

But at the same time, the people and the banks that were investing in oil and banks are still available in the world. It means they can provide the services at a competitive price,” said Rubondo The Refineries challenge in Energy TransitionThe planned FID for Uganda’s refinery is expected at a time when oil majors and refiners are struggling to make a case for the construction of new refineries.

Some of the big refineries are also investing huge millions of dollars to convert to the production of petrochemicals instead of traditional fossils like jet fuel, kerosene and Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO). The shifts are due to the changing winds in favour of low carbons. Amidst the debate, it is not clear whether the refinery in Uganda which is designed to process crude oil into jet fuel, kerosene and Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) will still be viable and match the emerging changes in the global refinery sector.

The Ugandan Refinery Study was undertaken by Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd (FW) in 2011. It had originally estimated that it would cost USD 3-4 billion but it is emerging that the investors are planning to invest up to USD 4.5 billion.

Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd.’s study demonstrated that constructing a refinery in Uganda presented a better economic return than building an export pipeline. Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd has projected that there would be a post-tax return of 33 per cent. In August, Lawyer, Sam Ahamya Butsya in an opinion piece warned of the likely danger of proceeding with the refinery as per Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd study 2011.

SAIPEM S.p.A conducted the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for the project suggested a complex refinery instead of a simple/modular refinery. PAU’s Dozith Abeinomugisha in reply to Sam Ahamya Butsya said the selected configuration of the refinery provided the flexibility of producing a fair balance between the main transportation fuels (Gasoline and diesel) and presented an opportunity for petrochemical industry development.

“The selected technology currently leads the global trend for the new refineries coming onboard the world over, due to its technical and economic robustness and high standard of environmental compliance,” reads part of the reply At the global level, studies have projected that refinery utilization is expected to drop in the key markets. Many refiners are reportedly considering shifting away from refining crude into mostly fuels and are instead looking to refine crude into chemicals.

One of those that have begun the transition is Saudi Aramco. Together with partner TotalEnergies in mid-December took an FID to build a USD 11-billion petrochemicals facility. The Amiral project will produce, ethylene, polyethene and naphtha. In the case of Uganda, Foster and Wheeler’s study seemed not in favour of naphtha.

“If naphtha is produced this will need to be exported as there is no demand in East Africa,” it said The General Manager of Uganda Refinery Holdings Company Ltd, Michael Nkambo Mugerwa told URN that the refinery was designed to process crude into petroleum products and a range of other products like plastics, some petrochemicals as well as nitrogen-based fertilizers.

Looming debt crises in Africa and other developing countries, climate change and the incoming World Bank President are expected to dominate the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

This year’s meetings that start today afternoon come at the time that most developing countries, most of them in Africa, are experiencing high debt burdens, with many either at or approaching crisis levels. Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Tunisia are among the 10 most indebted countries by GDP ratio in Africa.

In East Africa, Kenya and Rwanda have recently seen their debt levels climb to more than 60 per cent of the economies, while Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania also recorded ratios just above 40 per cent. Uganda’s total debt in 2022 was estimated at 21 billion US Dollars as opposed to revenue collections of just 6 billion.

“In addition, debt servicing in 2022 consumed one of the most significant portions of the budget, at 30 per cent or an equivalent of 1.2 billion US Dollars,” according to the Economic Policy Research Centre. This situation is what worries experts about the sustainability of Uganda’s debt. It is even made worse by the fact that commercial debt, mainly from China is increasingly dominating the debt burden because it is expensive.

Analysts have specifically blamed the IMF for the sharp rise in the indebtedness of Africa and other developing economies over the last three years, with credit facilities purported to help the countries cover the financial gaps left by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We discuss the complex challenges facing the world and priority issues for policymakers, including inflation, debt, and protecting the vulnerable. We’ll also suggest the way forward,” says IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

Georgieva and World Bank President David Malpass acknowledge that Africa is “facing a tremendous financial crunch” and that years of accumulation of unsustainable debt are holding back development.

Some countries spend as much as 40 per cent of their revenues on debt servicing.

As part of her proposed way forward, the IMF head will “call on countries in strong financial positions to give back some of their Special Drawing Rights , so that the firm can lend to African countries at concessional rates.”

However, this is also seen as worsening the situation by borrowing to pay off loans. Her statement also stresses the need to increase domestic revenue mobilisation, which basically means either increasing taxes or looking for more people to tax. The meetings are also expected to be dominated by debate on climate financing.

African leaders and global climate activists have been calling on the developed nations to honour their pledge to commit more funds to Africa for climate programmes. The wealthy countries committed 13 years ago to raise 100 billion dollars for poor countries annually, but no more than half has ever been met.

And this is one of the main challenges facing the person who will replace Malpass as World Bank President later this year. Malpass, who announced he will be stepping down almost a year before his term naturally ends, prides in what he calls record levels reached by the Bank in funding climate activities.

“Including on major commitments to adaptation, we reached 32 billion US Dollars in climate finance this past year, a record that was above our Glasgow (COP 26) target,” he told the conference of parties in Egypt. The IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington DC are also expected to debate the new WB president.

Ajaypal Singh Banga, an Indian-born US business executive is highly expected to be endorsed by the WB Board weeks after the annual meetings. And whether or not on agenda, the heads of international lending institutions and central banks as well as Ministers for finance among other dignitaries should be concerned about the growing influence of the Chinese currency on world trade.

The Yuan has recently increased its share of global trade transactions to 15 per cent compared to 25 per cent done in the US Dollar, while countries like Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia are increasingly taking on trading using the yuan. It will be of interest to both rich and poor nations to see how this trend is likely to affect the debt market as well as international trade.

“This year’s Annual Meeting will explore the need for global governance reform and the ways in which the International Financial Institutions can evolve to meet the economic, geopolitical, and cross-border challenges of the new era,” says Georgieva.

Three suspects are in custody at Kiryandongo Central Police Station for the illegal possession of wildlife products. The suspects are Bernard Enying, 29, a resident of Kigumba Town Council, Eston Nyitu, 33, a resident of Kibiramatu village in Kigumba Sub County, and John Onek, 47, a resident of Nanda village in Nyamaswa Sub County.

The three suspects were arrested on Saturday after being found in possession of 134 pieces of suspected rhino and hippopotamus teeth, weighing 45 kg. According to Julius Hakiza, the Albertine region police spokesperson, the police and Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) were able to apprehend the suspects after receiving intelligence-led information and a tip-off from a whistleblower.

Bashir Hangi, the Communications manager at UWA, called on communities living near national parks to appreciate the benefits of wildlife conservation and protect the survival of wildlife.

He suspected that the suspects could be wildlife traffickers or being used by them to traffic illegal wildlife products through Uganda. Hangi appealed to citizens not to allow themselves to be used by wildlife traffickers.

Kiryandongo District borders Murchison Falls National Park, and it is not clear whether the suspects killed protected species in the park to obtain the wildlife products.

A scientist at Busitema University has invented a battery derived from biomass-based materials and common salt. This kind of battery is likely to be a game-changer for Uganda as it ventures into Electric Vehicle (EVs) manufacture.

Currently, over 60% of the parts including batteries used by Kiira Motors (KMC) to manufacture cars and buses are imported from China. But Dr. Moses Kigozi, a lecturer and Materials Science and Engineering expert based ta Busitema says with the new science of fabrication of lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, Uganda can locally manufacture and end their imports.

“Because currently, we don’t have an existing plant for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. I convert the locally available biomass like coffee husks, maize cob, and rice husks, convert them into graphite which can be used as the anode material or the negative part of the battery,” said Dr. Kigozi, who holds a Ph.D. in energy storage from India

He says he uses the common salts from around Lake Katwe to get lithium-ion and sodium-ion to make the positive electrodes to combine a cell. The cells that Kigozi has are able to power cellphones and laptops and if combined can power electric bikes.

Kigozi aims at massive production of eco-friendly batteries that can replace conventional activated carbon-based batteries made from fossil fuels. “Actually I want to have value addition to materials that people discard as waste. In one way, I’m trying to improve waste management because, in every acre of land where you harvest maize, you only target 20% while 80% is waste. So I use those materials to reduce the cost of the battery,” Kigozi told URN.

Lithium-ion batteries are expected to be the core of electric cars in the near future. So far, the power the electric grids as well as household technology like smartphones and computers. With the growing popularity of electric cars, it’s expected that the market for lithium-ion batteries will be US $100 billion by 2025.

But around the world, there are groups advocating for a reduction in the dependence on lithium in the manufacture of batteries. The mining of lithium in countries like DRC has been linked to environmental degradation as well as fueling conflict.

The main raw materials for lithium-ion, lithium, and cobalt, come from the earth, but they take a lot of energy and water to extract. Lithium is difficult to extract as it’s typically found in trace amounts. Studies in several continents have confirmed that biomass from all kinds of waste can be carbonized and used in anodes of lithium or sodium ion batteries, cathodes in metal‐sulfur or metal‐oxygen batteries, or as conductive additives. Kigozi in an interview confirmed this.

A more recent study in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews found that various types of biomass for lithium-sulfur batteries have grown to be a competitor with Li-ion batteries. “Actually technology has been in existence and every year people try to improve the performance of the technology. The technology that is currently available, they are using what we call metal oxides in the positive part of the battery. I’m trying to reduce that metal and use carbon which is locally available,” he explained.

So far the dominant battery solution for renewable energy has been lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Those batteries are prone to explosions and they don’t last long enough and yet the world will need many more with bigger capacity but friendly to the environment.

“My process for converting biomass into graphite is zero emission. I don’t produce any greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, hydrogen methane, and others. Everything is captured to improve performance,” he said

Kigozi kind of battery could attract interest from automakers like BMW and a group backed by German automobile giants including Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG that try to “green” image of their electric cars by using batteries that are not made from metals like lithium-ion. Kigozi is one of the three Ugandans with extensive expertise in the fabrication of batteries. His two counterparts already left Uganda for greener pastures.

“As far as I know, I’m the only one with a Ph.D. in energy storage. I have tried to look around, and the only two friends with whom we were collaborating from other countries went for greener pastures. One is working for Tesla and the other is in the USA,” Kigozi revealed.

At Kigozi’s workstation are rechargeable coin cells powering digital devices like watches, lamps, calculators, toys, and car remote controls. He also has cells in pouches for charging mobile phones and makes hybrid supercapacitors that are also key components needed in energy storage.

“In energy storage, we have capacitors and batteries. Capacitors are good at giving high power, and batteries are good at giving high energy. So we need a device that has both,” he explained. According to Kigozi, the tops of the capacitors were threaded from the engineering department at Makerere University, then the rest was assembled at Busitma University’s chemistry department. Kigozi told URN that he has not gone into mass production because he still lacks the machinery needed to do the assembling.

“I have the skills; I have the materials but I’m lacking the machinery to go full commercial. Otherwise, the market is readily available,” said Kigozi. While Uganda has about five startups that are able to assemble rechargeable battery backups for two-wheeler electric bikes, there is no company manufacturing lithium-ion batteries.

Zembo Electric Motorcycles Co-Founder Director, Daniel Dreher said what Kigozi is doing is to clear the ground to launch Ugandans to make cells for electric vehicles. “Because what is happening now, 90% of this market is Chinese. Even in Germany, there are problems that car manufacturers like Volkswagen or Mercedes need to buy battery cells from China. While in Uganda we have a unique opportunity even when landlocked to put those processes into our country because we have the raw materials” said Dreher.

At a global level, 2022 has seen a sharp rise in prices for lithium which is a key mineral in the production of batteries for electric vehicles. Reports indicate that demand for lithium outstripped supply, pushing prices up almost 500% in a year. According to International Energy Agency (IEA), the World will need up to 10,000 Gwh of electricity by 2040 to meet the climate goals. That is fifty times the size of the current global energy production.

The European commission in Uganda, is set to fully address the matter of the European union parliament resolution on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project, at that upcoming Uganda-EU business summit later this month.

Due to environmental and human rights issues, the European union parliament resolved, to calling for a halt on the construction of the 1,444 kilometer pipeline, expected to transport crude oil from Kabaale, Hoima in western Uganda, to the Chongoleani peninsula along the Tanzanian coast on the Indian ocean.

This resolution over a 4-billion-dollar project which is expected to provide up to 15,000 construction jobs, and between 1,000 to 2,000 permanent ones, met a lot of criticism from different people, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni vowed that the project will go on irrespective of the EU’s position.

“I saw in the papers that the EU parliament passed a resolution directing TOTAL not to proceed with the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. Please, don’t waste your time thinking about that. We have a contract with TOTAL written very well. The oil will come out in 2025, the first batch. The Oil project will go on and no one can stop it,” the president said.

Additionally, there have been numerous protests from different sections of the Ugandan society, some of whom were school children in protest against the resolution. However, a number of environmental protection and human rights activists, as well as opposition politicians welcomed it.

Though from the onset the European union commissions in Uganda indicated the resolution as not binding, Carolyn Andreessen the head of cooperation at EU commission delegation in Uganda, says this issue will be fully covered along with any matters arising from it, come the 26th October business forum.

While addressing journalists at the media center on what to expect in the summit, Andriansen says the EU parliament is an independent institution, with its own roles and responsibilities. She adds that however, its concerns have been taken note of, and the EACOP stake holders should put them into consideration.

According to Andriansen, the European union delegation is engaging the lead investors TotalEnergies and the government of Uganda, for proper due diligence over the project.

“We are engaging all the private sector operations and that is TotalEnergies, and all the others that are involved in this project, to make sure that they respect their responsibilities in terms of environmental and social impact and labor standards,” she explained.

It was also revealed the EU has earmarked 8 million Euro to facilitate improvement of quality of the farm products that Uganda exporters to the European market especially fruits and flowers.

Uganda farm products suffered several bans from the European market due to poor quality, and this partly explains the trade imbalances of USD 600 million against USD 800 million, in favor of Europe.

The ambassador, says that they are working with the ministries of agriculture trade and finance, to effectively use this fund, such that the poor quality as at bottle neck to smooth trade is solved.

Evelyn Anite, Uganda’s minister for privatization and investments, says that Uganda is still seeking for more investments from Europe, to add on to the the 10 billion dollars which was invested in the oil and gas sector.

According to Anite, the upcoming summit is a great opportunity for Uganda to attain middle income status, and also to boost trade relations between the two territories, and also an in depth discussion about the EACOP.

Eco-friendly is a term that can be loosely translated to when human being engage in activities that do not harm the environment.

With recent studies showing that the climate change process has already begun, it is important that we look for ways to conserve our environment and not accelerate global warming. Going green does not literally mean painting your hotel green, planting flowers, and using paper plates but it means that we take several measures that help reduce the harm we bring to our environment. Here are a few steps that a hotel can take to ensure they have an eco-friendly location.

Involve All The Staff

Before you kickstart any campaign or make new changes, it is very important to involve all the staff members in the initiative. Get their ideas and feedback on some of the ones you want to put into action which will make it easy when the time comes to implement all the eco-friendly steps you have.

Small Steps

You can only do a complete overhaul when it is easy for you and the clients or when the hotel is not in its busy season. Therefore, before you jump head first into the green project, it is highly advisable to take small steps. Start with the smallest of things, such as putting recycling bins in every room and office station, electricity management among many other.

Maintain The  Environment

Yes, going green involves planting as many trees, grass, flowers and well manicured bushes around your hotel but it also means maintaining what the hotel found in place. If your hotel is next to the lake, swamp or forest, grow a dependant relationship with the area by not draining the swamps, cutting down tons of trees for expansion or dumping waste in the lake.

Structural Planning

When adding more structures to your hotel opt for materials that will not damage the environment, an example would be how most hotels that are built in forests always create cabins out of some of the wood and in the fact that the structure has to be removed, dismantling it will not be as damaging to the surroundings compared to heavy steel and concrete.

Save Energy

This is highly advisable especially when it comes to electricity use in hotels; you can get power saving bulbs for lighting, gas as an alternative kitchen cooking sauce, use solar heating systems for the pool and educate staff on room maintenance especially when there are no guests. This means that they should turn off lights as well as air conditioning in empty rooms during the hotel’s low season to save energy and of course the amount of money spent on the electricity bills.

Water Use

As important as water is, we never realise how much till the drought which is bad for business. No hotel should run when they are low on water supply or even without water; always ensure that there are tanks that tap rainwater which can be used in the toilets, watering plants and cleaning. Use low flush toilets that do not use as much water, encourage employees to use water sparingly, fix leaking faucets among many other things.

Green Spaces

Include many green spaces in the interior design of your hotel even in the rooms; bring in flower pots, the foyer can have a fountain with a tropical feel to it and maybe add manmade streams connecting the hotel structures. The best example of such eco-harmony would be the Serena group of hotels in Uganda. Each hotel has a unique but aesthetic feel to it that keeps you in contact with nature.

Over the years, the thick vegetation that was covering the countryside of Uganda has gone down by almost 50%. Every year, the country loses a huge chunk of forests is lost to encroachers which has created an imbalance in the weather seasons that Uganda experiences throughout the year.

There are of course several reasons that have led to the encroachment:

Land grabbing, population increase that have started destroying one of the most diverse ecosystem on the continent.

Between the early 90s and 2000s, Uganda has lost over 5 million hectares of forest cover throughout the country which number increases by the year.

Most of the forest reserves are handed over on a silver plate to future investors that have squandered away the forests and destroyed the rest around the factories with the residue from their activities.

Do we understand why forests are important to our environment though?

Reduction of Carbon Footprint

In any healthy environment, there has to balance between the carbon dioxide and Oxygen compounds. Trees help and can assist prevent catastrophic climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide which is mostly stored below the ground within the roots and exhaled by human beings. Oxygen is important, given it is what human beings rely on to live.

Regulates Landslides

When you see a forest’s root network, you will notice that it stabilizes half of the soil, holding together the entire ecosystem’s foundation against erosion by wind or water. Not only does deforestation disrupt all that, but the ensuing soil erosion can trigger new, life-threatening problems like landslides and dust storms.

Medicinal and Food Properties

Most of the tree species in our forests provide the general population with food that has been eaten for generations, as well as provide ingredients for the natural healing products in our medicines that keep us healthy and well. For example, the commonest “mululuza,”  mango trees are used for medicine and food respectively. Mango tree leaves plus it’s berk can be boiled and drunk for medicine.

Homes To Nature

Yes, to us trees are just the many leafy plants but they are homes to a variety of different animals on the Earth, the act as nesting grounds for bird, wild animals such as wolves. This means destruction of forests renders all these creatures homeless.

Flood Control

Tree roots are key allies in heavy rain, especially for low-lying areas like river plains. They help the ground absorb more of a flash flood, reducing soil loss and property damage by slowing the flow.

Provides Material

Half of the world’s raw materials come from our forests; the timber we use in construction, woodwork used for furniture, art among so many other. Using them means we have to cut down some of the trees but that doesn’t mean we do not plant many more others to take their place.

The National Forest Association and the other concerned bodies in charge need to take a stand and educate several Ugandans as to why the forests shouldn’t be cut down. The laws put into place should also be also properly implemented and understood by the people.

Health is one of the biggest elephants in any Ugandan room. If you fall seriously sick, in most cases, for those with the resources and connections, hospitals in foreign capitals seems to be the only glimmer of hope for survival. For most of us, it is certain death!

Yet a day the former speaker of parliament was buried at his Omoro home, the world gathered to commemorate yet another World Health Day. Goal three of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is on good health and well being to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. The SDG targets are part of Agenda 2030. Equitable access to health is one of the major drivers of equality. Eight years to the end of the SDGs, how far are we as a country? Can we meet the targets?

Can we reduce the maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030? Can we end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age by 2030?

The first point of action should be for many young people delaying giving birth until when they are ready. There are many underage girls getting pregnant in their teens. Many, keen to hide the pregnancy end up in unsafe places carrying out unsafe abortions.

Instead of parents and guardians teaching kids about their sexuality, we have resorted to prayer! Yet, one of the reasons Uganda managed to succeed to a certain extent about the spread of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s is because parents had candid conversations with their children. Teens need to understand their body changes and the risks that associated with underage sexual intercourse.

Can we achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all by 2030?

The death of speaker Jacob Oulanyah and Bank of Uganda governor Prof Tumusiime Mutebile in foreign hospitals should make us think about our priorities. It is reported that Uganda spends approximately Shs400 billion every year treating its officials abroad. If we spent 75% of this money every year on building and equipping hospitals ordinary Ugandans can afford, maybe we would be closer to achieving the SDG 3 targets.

If you visit a Ugandan hospital, each patient has at least one person looking after them as care takers and many others that cook food, bring in food supplies and such other things. One person falling sick means that a few other people won’t be working, dedicating their time to looking after the sick. How much does this cost the economy?

But in absence of a national insurance scheme, most people have no options. Public hospitals and health facilities are few and underwhelmed with the sheer number of people who need their services. Many die while waiting for critical care.

There are three major causes of maternal deaths: delays to seek medical services, delays during transportation and delays at hospital. Due to lack of insurance, many women delay to go to hospitals as they wait for money for transport and other necessities. Many times, money comes in too late.

Health facilities are far from where people live making it expensive for people to visit these facilities. Many people keep pushing the time they will go to health facilities. As they delay, their health deteriorates and they die. The priests turn up and say it was “God’s plan.”

I recently visited Kawempe hospital, the national referral facility for pregnant women. In some wards, you had nowhere to pass with many people sleeping on the floor. About 70 women give birth at this hospital every single day. The day I was there, 18 women needed emergency surgeries. I saw a doctor who was too tired that had decided to take a nap on the floor before performing yet another caesarean surgery.

Another time, some big man will die and the politicians will give colorful speeches, fight over the funeral budget, and drive their Landcruisers back to Kampala and do nothing yet again. When they are sick, they will cry to those with the envelope to be taken to India or Nairobi for treatment.

The most cost-effective thing to do is not to fly those who are well connected abroad for treatment rather to build facilities right here at home. In fact, we would make money from the ever-expanding East African region — just like Nairobi.