336
R. S. Muhongo
countries are mature oil and gas producers. The main reason for local
content policy failure in SSA is the ‘transferist’ aspect, whereby policies
are transferred from mature developed economies and implemented in a
‘copy-paste’ manner in developing countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda without taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances
staging these policies for immediate failure from their inception in the oil
and gas industry. For example, the Norwegian or Brazilian local content
model is neither technically nor politically adaptable in Tanzania, Kenya
and Uganda since the countries do not face similar problems. Norway
and Brazil had a strong shipping industry prior to the discovery of the oil
and gas resources, the skills and capabilities from the shipping industry
could be leveraged on the oil and gas industry unlike Kenya, Tanzania
and Uganda where the driving industry has been agriculture, and the
skills from this sector are not transferable to the sophisticated capitalintensive oil and gas sector. Though Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda must
adopt the policy design from Norway and Brazil, they must not adopt the
policy in ‘one-size fits all’ approach but the countries must synchronize
and harmonize the policy to the prevailing domestic circumstances.
Since Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda do not have the absorptive
capacity to integrate the oil and gas industry, the countries should adopt
a regional content policy, which will create stronger regional value chains.
The regional value chain will solve the current bottlenecks such as access
to finance, development of particular technologies as well as create a
conducive climate in the region to attract further investment in the
sector as well as maintain intra- and inter-regional trade within the
members of the EAC that will further develop downstream and upstream
linkages. Hence countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda must
consider using regional integration initiatives as a means of developing
their domestic economies, promoting industrialization as well as gaining
a competitive advantage against the multinational oil and gas companies.
Most importantly, as emphasized in this chapter, with respect to
energy transitions and local content, the nascent oil and gas economies
must take note that the discovery of their resources is during the wake
of the clean energy wave. With the pandemic outbreak of the Coronavirus, that has brought about massive fatalities to human life, but the
lockdown provision has exhibited what a cleaner world could be. The
R. S. Muhongo
countries are mature oil and gas producers. The main reason for local
content policy failure in SSA is the ‘transferist’ aspect, whereby policies
are transferred from mature developed economies and implemented in a
‘copy-paste’ manner in developing countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda without taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances
staging these policies for immediate failure from their inception in the oil
and gas industry. For example, the Norwegian or Brazilian local content
model is neither technically nor politically adaptable in Tanzania, Kenya
and Uganda since the countries do not face similar problems. Norway
and Brazil had a strong shipping industry prior to the discovery of the oil
and gas resources, the skills and capabilities from the shipping industry
could be leveraged on the oil and gas industry unlike Kenya, Tanzania
and Uganda where the driving industry has been agriculture, and the
skills from this sector are not transferable to the sophisticated capitalintensive oil and gas sector. Though Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda must
adopt the policy design from Norway and Brazil, they must not adopt the
policy in ‘one-size fits all’ approach but the countries must synchronize
and harmonize the policy to the prevailing domestic circumstances.
Since Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda do not have the absorptive
capacity to integrate the oil and gas industry, the countries should adopt
a regional content policy, which will create stronger regional value chains.
The regional value chain will solve the current bottlenecks such as access
to finance, development of particular technologies as well as create a
conducive climate in the region to attract further investment in the
sector as well as maintain intra- and inter-regional trade within the
members of the EAC that will further develop downstream and upstream
linkages. Hence countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda must
consider using regional integration initiatives as a means of developing
their domestic economies, promoting industrialization as well as gaining
a competitive advantage against the multinational oil and gas companies.
Most importantly, as emphasized in this chapter, with respect to
energy transitions and local content, the nascent oil and gas economies
must take note that the discovery of their resources is during the wake
of the clean energy wave. With the pandemic outbreak of the Coronavirus, that has brought about massive fatalities to human life, but the
lockdown provision has exhibited what a cleaner world could be. The