Dr Elly Karuhanga: Overview of Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum and Kampala Associated Advocates

Interview with Dr Elly Karuhanga, Chairman of The Private Sector Foundation Uganda and Senior Partner at Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA)

How is the private sector organized here in Uganda?

We have a private sector ready and the government recognizes that. The Private Sector Foundation is the apex body of all associations of business: the Uganda National Farmers Association, the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, and many others. The Foundation becomes the official voice of the private sector in Uganda. The Private Sector Foundation Board will be having our elections for new leadership next week. I am the Chairman of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum. We focus our energy on extractives and we are the voice of all the players in this industry: oil companies like Total, CNOOC, Tullow, and all the other companies playing a role in Uganda like exploration companies, midstream companies, and downstream companies. Our meetings and efforts are geared towards ensuring that the mining, petroleum, environment, and services sector is vibrant and that we do whatever we do for the protection of our pristine environment. Our Chamber of Mines and Petroleum is a household name in Uganda. It is only 10 years old, as old as our oil and gas sector. I have been privileged to have created it and to be leading it all these years. We lobby the legislature and the government to carry out correct policies and to make sure that we are a bridge of understanding between the government and the industry. When we have taxation challenges, we come onboard and present the issues for the government and for the private sector and these issues are often resolved by the government. When they are passing legislature on local content, we are the ones who give well researched content that the government normally adopts to pass the bill and the law. We work with the Ministry of Education as well as the industry in the scaling of specialized Ugandans as well as technicians, scaffolding, etc. We work in close association with the Private Sector Foundation which gets money from the World Bank and donors which comes down to our platforms. This is our effect. We have been involved in streamlining mining, we hold conferences on oil and gas every April, and in the first week of October we hold the Mineral Wealth Conference. Uganda is lucky to have almost 50 different types of minerals. We are one of the few countries in the world that has as many minerals. After doing 80% of the country’s area magnetic survey, geological survey, and physio survey, we have been able to collect all data and keep it in place which is valuable to investors. Now we are attracting big and effective companies. To ensure the effectiveness of what is happening, we spur our government to proceed with speed. We have not been successful, but we are there making the necessary noise. We attend international conferences and sell Uganda and tell the people of the world about Uganda. We are mindful of the fact that Uganda is not very well known in oil and gas and mining and extractives. In oil and gas, we have sufficient quantities that are commercially exploited. We have very good investors who have deep pockets and who will get our minerals out of the ground because they have national capacity. We are ready. We are looking forward to FID hopefully in the first quarter of next year. We are expecting commercial exploitation and first oil in 2023. These years have been shifting from time to time as companies and governments negotiate value but most of the points are ready. We are sure that each one of them is itching to sign on the dotted line. We project that before the end of this year, the government and the oil companies will agree on the outstanding issues that have been holding them back. We are very positive about that because we have good information from both the private sector and from the government.

What is the investment climate in Uganda?

The investment climate in Uganda is very good. We have an educated class of people. Uganda had the earliest education. Makerere University has been the best in Africa for a long time and I, myself, went there as well. People who invest here will not have to bring in foreigners to work because the people here have international experience.

What kind of environment will people discover here? Is the sector competitive? How do you distinguish yourself?

Our vision is not to just practice law and make money, but to render a service and to be a law firm that is well regarded. Our motto is that when you come to us, you can consider your challenge solved. We are the lawyers for the industry, the private sector, the government.

Uganda has a very strong legal system based on the British Common Law. After the country had come to its knees through political mistakes, Uganda came back to life after this government led by President Museveni came to power. After that, the courts were established, practitioners and lawyers started business, and for us as a law firm, Kampala Associated Advocates, for which I am a founding partner, we realized that to be able to serve international clients, we had to attract the proper talent, both international and local. So, we worked with one international law firm for 18 years, until recently, called Dentons. We then got the best talent in the market, the former Attorney General joined me, and we started a law firm called Kampala Associated Advocates. Most lawyers want to use their names on their practice, but we were the first law firm to have a generic name. We attracted two other colleagues and started the law firm 18 years ago. Next year, we will have been around for 20 years. I am very happy about the fact that our law firm then grew from just four lawyers. I had my own firm, Karuhanga & Company Advocates. We merged our law firms with this law firm then attracted three more international lawyers, formerly one of the Solicitor Generals, and the DPP, and the other was heading litigation who is now our current managing partner. We became seven partners. Then, we realized that we had to reinvent ourselves and bring in young blood. So, we got another five new law partners. We became the largest partnership in Uganda and the most effective law firm. For the last 10 years, we have been the largest taxpayers among the law firms. We have a good reputation now. We are a household name. We have been able to handle most of the major cases that come our way. We have been big service providers for the oil and gas industry because we had the vision for that before and we knew that there was oil. I was President of Tullow Oil in Uganda for about 8 years until just recently when they came in the country. I have been Chairman of the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum. Our legal practice in oil and gas is quite strong. We have trained over 200 lawyers who have come through our law firm to work in other areas. We have been able to create a good environment in Uganda and make sure that our clients, both international and local, are served to the best of our ability, as if they were in any other international law firm.

Project yourself to the future. How do you envision the development of the company in the next three to five years? What do you want to achieve?

In all these service companies (law firms, audit firms, any other business), the human resource is the most important. The first thing we want to achieve is to make sure that we train our young lawyers to become the best. We specifically recruit lawyers with a first-class degree, then we train them, we specialize them, and we provide the service. This building is getting too small for our size. Soon, we will put up a Kampala Associated Advocates Tower so we can accommodate more lawyers and partners. Uganda is very endowed with fertile soil and fresh water. We realize that Uganda’s main business could be agriculture and agribusiness but there is no law firm in Uganda which has specialized in agriculture practice. We will be that law firm. We have become enablers to other law firms and judicially by putting our energy into training specialized lawyers and judges so that they are able to handle some of these specialized challenges that have come our way because of the opportunities available in Uganda. For example, right now, many judges might not understand the law for oil and gas. Our challenge now as a law firm because we do understand this area is to hold training seminars. Together with our colleagues from around the world that we are associated with, work with, and are friends with, we provide training here for those judges and other law firms so that we can be able to fulfill our corporate social responsibility. We are ready. We are glad that this has been a good ground for serving our country. For example, one of my colleagues who founded the law firm with me, Bart Magunda Katureebe, is the current Chief Justice of Uganda. We want to become the best training ground and release our lawyers to banks, oil companies, etc. We send lawyers to Total. When SABMiller was here, we gave them lawyers who stayed in house for about two years then came back to us. Now, they can serve the industry. Our vision is not to just practice law and make money, but to render a service and to be a law firm that is well regarded. Our motto is that when you come to us, you can consider your challenge solved. We are the lawyers for the industry, the private sector, the government. Many times, the government is taken to court and they have a big law firm in the Attorney General’s office, but they still ask our advice. When the President is charged with petitions, we are the firm that does the presentations for him. We have not lost any of our political cases. At one time, 44 Ministers were being thrown out. We presented and they kept their jobs. We have represented the biggest investors who come to Uganda from China to Argentina, from Canada to South Africa and Australia. We have represented the company which found the first oil in Uganda, Adman Petroleum. They were so pleased with our work they made me President of their company. It was then bought by Tullow. We have represented Tullow and won cases for them in London, etc. We have worked for Total since they came here. We do work for many of the mining companies. We are here and we are one of the top law firms in the country.

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