Share this article

Former DFCU Managing Director Mathias Katamba has been appointed the board chairperson of the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), replacing businessman Emmanuel Katongole whose four year-two terms expired last month.

The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has named former DFCU Managing Director Mathias Katamba as its new board chairperson. Katamba replaces businessman Emmanuel Katongole, whose four-year-two term ended last month.

In a March 5 letter to Speaker of Parliament Anitah Among, President Museveni designated Mr Katamba and five other members for vetting. Section 41 of the Petroleum (Exploration, Development, & Production) Act, which establishes UNOC, stipulates that the President appoints its board with approval of Parliament.

The Senior Presidential Press Secretary, Mr Sandor Walusimbi, said was not privy to the appointment.

A graduate of Economics from the University of Greenwich, Mr Katamba served as DFCU boss from January 2019 to January last year when he threw in the towel.

Previously, he served for five years as managing director of the government’s Housing Finance Bank, and before that, as chief executive officer of Finance Trust Bank.

Rounding up the new UNOC board are; Mr Moses Kabanda, the acting commissioner for public administration in Ministry of Finance; Mr Herbert Mugizi, a principal engineer in the Ministry of Energy; Dr Ivan Lule, a chemical engineer; Ms Justine Isenyi from the Vice President’s office, and Zulaika Kasajja Mirembe, a lawyer.

The new board replaces the inaugural Katongole-led board whose tenure ran from 2015 to last month.

Mr Peter Muliiisa, the UNOC head of legal and corporate affairs, said last evening that the new board will resume work at the earliest after receiving the instruments of power from the president.
“Parliament passed all of them last week. Now we are waiting for their instruments, then we can arrange the handover at the earliest possible,” Mr Muliisa noted.

UNOC, wholly owned by the ministries of Energy (51 percent) and Finance (49 percent), is the statutory body mandated to manage the country’s commercial interests in the nascent oil sector, including marketing of the country’s share of petroleum received in kind, and to develop in depth expertise in the oil and gas industry.

The Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) signed with the licensed international oil companies (IOCs) provide for the government’s participation through a carried interest of up to 15 percent.

UNOC carries this 15 percent stake upstream in each of the nine production licenses for the oil fields operated by China’s Cnooc and French TotalEnergies EP in Nwoya, Buliisa, Hoima, and Kikuube districts.

UNOC role