Lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi has sued the government over its bid to monopolise the importation of fuel into the country.
Mabirizi, in his lawsuit filed before the Anti-Corruption Court, contends that the government’s move to contract Vitol Company as a sole importer of fuel without going through proper bidding amounts to corruption and unfairly edges out those suppliers with capacity to do so.
Further, Mabirizi contends that the conceptualization, processing, selection, contracting and grant of fuel import monopoly to Vitol Company infringes on importation rights.
On November 1, Energy minister Ruth Nankbirwa tabled before Parliament an Amendment Bill to regulate the importation of petroleum products.
The Petroleum Supply (Amendment) Bill, 2023, if passed into law in its current form, will grant the Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc), the monopoly to supply imported petroleum products to local suppliers.
Last week, concerned fuel suppliers while appearing before Parliament, opposed the government’s bid to ring fence the petroleum importation by UNOC through Vitol, arguing that bringing on board more players would lead to cheaper fuel pump prices.
Mabirizi in his lawsuit wants the court to issue a permanent injunction, restraining the government or any other state agency from enforcing the fuel import monopoly contract granted to Vitol.
By press time, the court had not yet summoned the Attorney General, the sole respondent in this case, to file his defence before a hearing date could be fixed.
