Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni /FILEUganda President Yoweri Museveni has credited a Kenyan senator with alerting him to the country's reliance on petroleum importers, a revelation he said prompted changes to how Uganda sources fuel.
Museveni said the information made him question why Uganda was buying petroleum products through intermediaries instead of sourcing directly from bulk suppliers and refineries.
He made the remarks on Thursday, September 17, during the groundbreaking of the 320-million-litre Kampala Storage Terminal in Mpigi District, where he also spoke about Uganda's efforts to strengthen its petroleum storage and supply system.
"When in Kenya, the person who woke me up first was a senator from Kenya," Museveni said.
"The one who came and told me, he said, you man, do you know that you are buying, your country is buying petroleum through Nigerian men? I didn't know."
Museveni said he subsequently contacted Irene Muloni, who was then Uganda's Energy and Mineral Development minister.
"I called the then minister, Irene Muloni. I told her, this is a disaster. How can this be?" he said.
Muloni served as Uganda's Energy and Mineral Development minister during a period when the country was using the Open Tender System for petroleum imports.
Uganda had joined the system in 2011, with the Kenya route becoming the main channel for its petroleum supplies.
Ugandan parliamentary records later described the system as supplying about 95 per cent of the country's petroleum requirements through Kenya.
Museveni said the issue resurfaced years later when another group brought the fuel procurement arrangement to his attention.
"Until later, again, after some years, when some people brought me this group called, a group which called, who had, because you see the thing to do is for the country to buy from the refiners," he said.
"Those who are refining, why do you buy from traders?"
Uganda's fuel import arrangements have since undergone significant changes.
In 2023, Museveni backed a plan for the state-owned Uganda National Oil Company to take over the importation of petroleum products and source them directly from bulk suppliers.
The change followed amendments to Uganda's petroleum supply law.
