Ugandan delegates at COP28
Uganda needed to have all those 600 delegates at the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, according to the commissioner for climate change at ministry of Water and Environment, Margaret Athieno Mwebesa.
Mwebesa, who is also Uganda’s national focal point at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC) denies accusations that Ugandan delegates at COP28 are there for a per diem hunt and holiday escapades.
“We’re not here for ourselves as individuals. So these numbers that you’re hearing [about], first of all, not all of them came for COP. I can assure you it is less than even half of that number that managed to get funding to come to Dubai for this COP. Many times individuals anticipate to get funding to come for these COPs and indeed Uganda we need numbers to come for these negotiations,” she said.
Recent media reports indicated that Uganda had sent over 600 delegates from office of the prime minister, ministries of Water, Energy, Finance, Foreign Affairs among others to attend the two-week annual climate summit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Other Ugandan delegates are from entities like the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Petroleum Authority of Uganda, Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), Kampala Capital City Authority. On social media, several Ugandans criticized the government for what they considered as exorbitant expenditures on travel, allowances, and hotel accommodation for such huge numbers of delegates especially after some delegates posted pictures of themselves seemingly at leisure parks instead of being inside conference sessions.
“By the way as the minister of Water and Environment, we’re very very careful with whom we accredit. There is a creteria that we’re using…We have meetings where we have high level dignitaries to partipate. For example, you have presidents wanting to interact with high level delegates. We cannot send a permanent secretary, a commissioner or assistant commissioner to have a meeting with the president. At least you must have high level official in the meeting. Our prime minister has met with presidents,” she added.
Mwebesa said that while 600 people may have been registered to travel to Dubai, it is highly unlikely that all of them managed to secure funding to travel and attend the conference. Uganda normally negotiates at the COP on three levels – the African Group of Negotiators, the least developed countries group of negotiators, and the G77+China group of negotiators. Uganda’s delegation also has to have representations at plenary sessions where either the ministers or heads of state participate.
“Along those blocks, we have several thematic areas where we must have representation. One of them is on adaptation, the other one is on loss and damage, and we also have to have representation in mitigation negotiations, capacity building, technology development, and transfer and food systems. And what has just come on board is health,” Mwebesa explained.
“Please support us who are down here fighting for our country, fighting for the least developed countries, fighting for the vulnerable countries…There was a negotiation where the developed countries wanted to bring in artificial intelligence. You can imagine if Uganda is not there. And other African countries are not there. What would happen? First of all, we are safeguarding our sovereignty,” she explained.
This year, President Museveni unlike his East African counterparts like Paul Kagame and William Ruto did not attend the conference. He was represented by prime minister Robinah Nabanja. Apart from government officials, climate change conferences have become a must-go event for a range of NGOs especially those campaigning against fossil fuels, and Mwebesa says some of the youthful delegates were sponsored by civil society in a bid to build their capacity.
“We are not just coming here to enjoy. There is a lot of sacrifice that people go through. People leave these negotiation rooms very late…Dear Ugandans, we have so many negotiations and stations on every kind, and Uganda needs to have proper representation if we’re going to get some good deals out of these negotiations. I can give you an example last night our negotiators under the technology development and transfer left the negotiation room at 1.30am,” added Mwebesa.
Ali Ssekatawa, director of legal and corporate affairs at Petroleum Authority Uganda is among the hundreds of Ugandans at the conference. From the perspective of a lawyer, he explained that the first opportunity for Uganda is to have Ugandans at the negotiating table where decisions are going to impact the world over the next decades are being taken.
“The second reason is then who are the major players. For example, the International Energy Agency is here. It is one of the most significant players in this discussion of the energy transition. So we must be there,” said Ssekatawa who is at the conference to partly defend Uganda’s position on why it must produce its oil when the rest of the world wants it phased down or stopped.
Izama Angelo, a board member at Uganda Investment Authority revealed that Uganda is targeting to secure investments amounting to over $4 billion from COP28 but has so far closed investment commitments of about $1 billion. On the sidelines of the conference, the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) has reportedly committed to invest $19 million into a new 20MW solar PV project designed to provide clean, affordable energy for one of the most remote and underserved regions in north-western Uganda.
Uganda also used COP28 to launch its Energy Transition Plan as part of the efforts to attract some of the funds needed for the country to go green and move away from fossil fuel.
Source: The Observer
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