The Ugandan Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources, Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, has urged the western world to focus on supporting Africa to develop its energy sources including fossil fuels to increase access to affordable power instead of insisting on an energy transition to renewable energy only.
Over 600 million people in Africa lack access to electricity for instance, and even those who have access to electricity find it difficult to pay because it is expensive.
Africa has an abundance of renewable energy sources like hydro, wind, biomass, biogas and solar.
It also has fossil fuels such as crude oil and natural gas reserves.
Contributing to discussions at the just-ended Houston-Africa Energy Summit, in Houston, Texas, held from 22nd—23rd September 2022, Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu noted that it was about time the West took cognisance of the inequalities in energy on the African continent and supported it to develop all other sources of energy to make them affordable and accessible for all.
The Summit consisted of a closed-door roundtable discussion, as well as panel discussions that provided an opportunity for African leaders to engage with Houston’s leading Energy companies like Chevron, Kosmos Energy, Halliburton, Vaalco Energy, Shell and Exxon Mobil to bring tangible energy investments to Africa.
The Summit, hosted by the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, was attended by the President of Niger, H.E. Mohamed Bazoum, and Ministers for Energy of the African countries including Burundi, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, The Gambia, Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The topics discussed at the Summit included: ‘The Future of Global Energy in Africa; Building Africa’s Energy Infrastructure; and Investing in Africa, Financial Pathways’.
The position taken by all the African countries in attendance was that Africa has nothing to transition from, hence, the need to attract investment in the energy sector at all stages i.e. Upstream (Exploration & production), Midstream (Processing and transport) and Downstream (Marketing and distribution to end users).
Making a case for Uganda, Ruth N. Ssentamu said opportunities exist in her country for those who want to invest in energy infrastructure as well as affordable financing for energy projects like dams, refineries and oil pipelines and investment in new oil blocks.
The Minister was accompanied by Eng. Irene Bateebe, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, and Michael Bulwaka, Counselor at the Uganda Embassy, Washington, DC.
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