CLASS B (2011-2012 Class)

Felix has been practicing journalism for about 12 years. Currently a bureau chief for the western region at the Daily Monitor, he has previously worked for Weekly Topic, New Vision and Orumuri. He was awarded for best investigative journalism in the print category for the western region of Uganda in 2005 and 2007.

Felix has been practicing journalism for about 12 years. Currently a bureau chief for the western region at the Daily Monitor, he has previously worked for Weekly Topic, New Vision and Orumuri. He was awarded for best investigative journalism in the print category for the western region of Uganda in 2005 and 2007.

He has also been recognized by the Daily Monitor as the best performing bureau chief in 2010. The region he oversees is where Uganda's oil, gas and minerals, such as copper and lime, are found, and is also a highly sensitive area ecologically.

Felix is particularly interested in the relationship between extractives and the environment.

Isaac Imaka

Isaac is a staff reporter covering parliament and politics at the Daily Monitor. He started as a freelance journalist in 2008 when he was attached to parliament as a trainee reporter. He was then recruited to attend the Nation Media Group's media lab and one-year editorial training program in Nairobi. Following the parliamentary beat will enable him to do informative and accurate reporting on a wide range of extractive issues.

Some of Isaac's stories since the programme started:

Oil or fish? Lessons for Uganda from Takoradi, Ghana

Mary Karugaba

Mary is a senior parliamentary reporter with New Vision and has been at her job for six years. She has covered a number of local and international stories including economic, social and political issues. She hopes to be able to deal with the challenges of reporting constructively and objectively on the extractive sector, taking into account the sensitivities that have come with the discovery of oil and gas in Uganda.

Halima Abdallah Kisule

Halima is a special correspondent with The EastAfrican, a weekly newspaper that focuses on regional news, analyses and features.

She worked at The Observer for three years after having moved from the Daily Monitor, where she was for two and a half years. Halima won the 2010 CNN-Multichoice Africa Journalist Award for environmental reporting.

She is looking to deepen her understanding of the oil and gas industry, which she believes will enhance her confidence in contributing to the media's oversight role for the sector.

Assad Mugenyi

Assad has been with The CEO Magazine since 2008, having started his journalism career in 2005. He started at the Evening Mail and then in 2006 moved on to Red Pepper, where he set up a business news desk and rose to the position of assistant news editor.

He joined The CEO Magazine when it was a nascent monthly business journal. Given the interest in Uganda's emerging oil and gas sector, Assad believes that the extractive industries present many exciting issues for a journalist to cover, which is why he is passionate about packaging information in ways that will appeal to his readers.

Moses Talemwa

Moses is a reporter with The Observer. He started his career in 2000 as a journalist for Radio One. In 2006 he joined WBS TV as news editor, a position he held for 18 months before joining The Observer. He specializes in education and business news features and is expanding his scope to cover oil and gas.

Coletta Wanjohi

Coletta has been a journalist for about four years and specializes in television production, most recently with WBS TV. Her work has ranged from news reporting and production to presentating a weekly business magazine and news anchoring.

She blogs regularly on oil and gas and believes that increasing her knowledge of the extractive industries will broaden her reporting and presentation of issues about the sector.

She is keen to translate the subject of oil and gas, generally considered complex, into more comprehensible information for TV viewers.

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CLASS A (2011 Class Profile)

Michael Baleke

Michael Baleke is a broadcast journalist with more than eight years of experience. He is currently a senior political reporter with NTV Uganda, where he has worked for the last four years. On top of politics, Michael also covers business (he was majorly a business reporter until the recent switch), the environment and parliament. “The discovery of oil in Uganda is a new growth opportunity in my professional career as a journalist and this training programme is an avenue for me to explore new heights in oil business reporting,” he says.

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Some of Michael’s stories since the programme started:

• NTV CONNECT: The Oil Lesson
• Eco Talk _ Exploration sites protection
• Anxiety of Uganda Oil exploration
• Uganda Legislators Demand For Transparency in Oil and Gas Sector
• Oil revenue to fund budget
• Oil exploration deal sealed

Ibrahim Kasita

Born in 1977, Ibrahim Kasita is a senior business writer with the New Vision, Uganda’s largest circulating newspaper with majority government ownership. He holds a diploma in mass communication and a bachelor’s in business administration. He is presently pursuing an advanced degree in economic policy and management (financial management). Ibrahim started out in journalism in 2003 as a freelance reporter. He is the founder and president of the Uganda Energy Journalists Association, a grouping that aims to help journalists improve their understanding and coverage of the broader energy sector in Uganda.

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Some of Ibrahim’s stories since the programme started:

• Oil: Skills shortage costs Uganda sh8b
• Firm injects USD 1m in oil welding jobs
• Road sector gets sh1 trillion
• Why Uganda will delay to issue more oil licences
• Tullow clears $469m disputed tax

Esther Nakkazi

Esther Nakkazi is a freelance science reporter, researcher and trainer. She writes mainly for the weekly regional title, The EastAfrican and other media around the globe. She has worked as a journalist for eleven years and loves networking with other journalists around the world. What stands out for her in the current oil reporting programme is the opportunity to meet industry players, share ideas with peers, having a readily available mentor, and going on field reporting trips. Esther holds a bachelors degree from Makerere University, a postgraduate diploma in journalism and was a 2007/08 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Follow her on Twitter @Nakkazi and the blog: www.estanakkazi.blogspot.com

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Some of Esther’s stories since the programme started:

• Heads lock over Uganda’s oil agreements again
• Oil companies queue up for licences
• Uganda starts filling skills gap as it moves towards oil production
• Oil firms at odds with Uganda over production rates
• Uganda invites EA states on board refinery plan

Joseph Olanyo

Joseph Olanyo is a staff reporter with the East African Business Week, a regional weekly. He has also worked for the Daily Monitor and New Vision newspapers over a journalistic career spanning more than 10 years. Joseph holds a diploma in journalism and has had training in economic and financial reporting. Having started out as a “purely” business reporter, he has since branched out to cover the energy sector, especially following the discovery of commercially viable oil deposits in Uganda.

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Some of Joseph’s stories since the programme started:

• What it will take for Ugandans to see oil
• Uganda oil well roads for upgrade
• Uganda oil expectations remain high
• Tullow disputes tax on assets sale

Gerald Tenywa

Gerald Tenywa started reporting actively in 2001 as a freelance journalist at the New Vision where he was attached to the features desk, becoming a staff reporter specialising in environmental issues attached to the news desk in 2004. Says Gerald: “I did my first story on oil four years ago, but embarked on consistent reporting on oil and gas this year. My main interest is environment, tourism, the communities, and transboundary issues. The RWI-sponsored training on oil and gas reporting has helped me to overcome the fear of the unknown.”

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Some of Gerald’s stories since the programme started:

• Buliisa Locals in bloody land fights as oil flows
• Conservationists plot deal out of oil
• Downside of managing oil waste
• Will locals turn oil into wealth?
• Oil production to start within 4 years

Michael Wambi

Michael Wambi is a journalist with the Uganda Radio Network, a subscription-based independent news agency. He is the producer of National Perspective documentary aired across private FM radio stations and public broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. Michael is a regular contributor with African Bureau of Inter Press Services (IPS Africa) and The Mail and Guardian, among others. He has won awards reporting on environment and conservation, and population and development issues.

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Some of Michael's Stories since the programme started

Uncovering the Oil Production Sharing Agreements