THE NILE BASIN INITIATIVE ACT, 2002.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS.
1.
Short title.
2. Interpretation.

3.
NBI to have capacity of a body corporate.
4.
Financial provisions.
5.
Immunities and privileges of NBI and its officials.
SCHEDULE
AGREED MINUTE NO. 7.
THE NILE BASIN INITIATIVE ACT, 2002.
An Act to confer legal status in Uganda on the Nile Basin Initiative, and
otherwise give the force of law in Uganda to the signed Agreed Minute No. 7 of
the 9th Annual Meeting of the Nile Basin States held in Cairo, Egypt, on 14th
February 2002; and to provide for other connected or incidental matters.
WHEREAS, currently, there is no regional or international Treaty or Agreement
among the riparian States of the Nile River Basin, namely, Burundi, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania
and Uganda, on cooperation in the utilization of the waters of the Nile River Basin;
AND WHEREAS the Government of the Republic of Uganda and the Governments
of the other Nile Basin States at the meeting of their Council of Ministers held in Dar-
es-Salaam, Tanzania, on 22nd February, 1999 established a "Transitional Institutional
Mechanism of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI)", pending the conclusion of a
"Cooperative Framework Agreement", based on a vision "to achieve sustainable
socioeconomic development through equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the
common Nile Basin water resources";
AND WHEREAS the Government of Uganda and the Governments of the other
States at the 9th annual meeting of their Council of Ministers held in Cairo, Egypt, on
14th February, 2002, adopted "Agreed Minute No. 7" of that meeting to, among other
things, "invest the NBI. on a transitional basis, with legal personality to perform all of
the functions entrusted to it, including the power to sue and be sued, and to acquire or
dispose of movable and immovable property;
AND WHEREAS following the ratification by the Republic of Uganda of the Agreed
Minute No.7, it is necessary to give legal effect in Uganda to the provisions of that
Agreed Minute No. 7;

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DATE of ASSENT: 11th October 2002.
Date of Commencement: 1st November 2002.
Now, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED by Parliament as follows:
1. This Act may be cited as the Nile Basin Initiative Act, 2002.
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires--
"Agreed Minute No. 7" means that part or portion of the minutes of the annual
meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Nile Basin States held in Cairo, Egypt, on
14th February, 2002 and set out in the Schedule to this Act;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for Water;
"Nile Basin Initiative" or "NBI" means the transitional arrangement established by
the Nile Basin States at the meeting of their Council of Ministers held in Dar-es-
Salaam, Tanzania, on 22nd February, 1999, to foster cooperation and sustainable
development of the Nile River for the benefit of the inhabitants of those countries;
"Nile Basin States" means the States of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda;
"Nile River Basin" means all the area forming the basin of the Nile River.
3.
(1) The NBJ shall have the capacity, within Uganda, of a body
corporate with perpetual succession, and with power to acquire, hold, manage and
dispose of movable and immovable corporate. property, and to sue and be sued in its
own name.
(2)
The NBI shall have the capacity, within Uganda, to perform any of
the functions conferred upon it by and under the Agreed Minute No. 7, and to do all
things, including borrowing, that are, in the opinion of the Nile Basin States or the
appropriate organ of the NBI, necessary or desirable for the performance of those
functions.
(3)
Subsection (2) of this section relates only to the capacity of the
NBI as a body corporate, and nothing in that subsection shall be construed as
authorising the disregard by the NBI of any law, or anything affecting any power of
the NBI conferred by any law.
4.
(1) There shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated
Fund, without further appropriation other than this Act, all payments required to he
made from time to time by the Government of Uganda under the terms or provisions
of the Agreed Minute No. 7.
(2)
Subject to article 159 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, for the
purposes of providing any sums required for making payments under this section, the
Minister responsible for finance may, on behalf of the Government, make such
arrangements as are necessary or raise loans by creation and issue of securities
hearing such rates of interest and subject to such conditions as to repayment

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redemption or otherwise as the Minister thinks fit; and the charges and expenses
incurred in connection with their issue shall he charged on and issued out of the
Consolidated Fund.
(3)
Any moneys received by the Government under the Agreed Minute No. 7
shall be paid into and form part of the Consolidated Fund, and shall be available in
any manner in which the Consolidated Fund is available.
5. (1) The NBI, its staff and officials shall enjoy, within or Uganda, such privileges
and immunities as are necessary for their functions.
(2)
The privileges and immunities referred to in subsection (1) of this section
shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Diplomatic Privileges Act. 1965, Act
No. 2 of 1965.
SCHEDULE
AGREED MINUTE NO.7
6.
LEGAL STATUS OF THE NILE BASIN INITIATIVE (NBI)
The Ministers of Water affairs of the Nile Basin Countries, referring to the provisions
of the signed Agreed Minutes of their meeting in Dares-Salaam on 22 February 1999
establishing a Transitional Institutional Mechanism of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI),
pending the conclusion of a Cooperative Framework Agreement to advance the Nile
Basin Strategic Action Program in realization of the Shared Vision for the Nile Basin,
"to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through equitable utilization of,
and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources";
Invest the NBI, on a transitional basis, with legal personality to perform all of the
functions entrusted to it, including the power to sue and be sued, and to acquire or
dispose of movable and immovable property;
Recall that organs of the NBI include: the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of
the Nile Basin Countries (Nile-COM), which provides policy guidance and makes
decisions on matters relating to the NM; the Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-
TAC), which renders technical advice and assistance to the Nile-COM; and the Nile
Basin Secretariat (Nile-SEC), which renders administrative services to the Nile-COM
and Nile-TAC; x
Decide that NB! shall enjoy in the territory of each Nile Basin State the legal
personality referred to above and such privileges and immunities as are necessary for
the fulfilled of its functions;
Confirm that the headquarters of the NB! is situated at Entebbe, Uganda;
Confirm that the Executive Director of the Nile-SEC is the principal executive officer
of the NBI;
Decide that the Executive Director, staff and officials of the NBI shall enjoy in the

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territory of each Nile Basin State such privileges and immunities as are necessary for
the fulfillment of their functions;
Confirm that a draft budget for each financial year is to he prepared by the Executive
Director and approved by the Nile-COM on the recommendation of the Nile-TAC;
that the resources of the budget are derived from annual contributions of the Nile
Basin States and such other sources as may be determined by the Nile-COM; and that
the contributions of the Nile Basin States are based on the budget as approved by the
Nile-COM;
Confirm that the accounts of the NBI relating to each fiscal year are to be audited the
following fiscal year by an internationally recognized auditing firm selected on the
basis of competitive bidding and submitted to Nile-TAC/COM for its review and
approval; and that the NBI is to follow procurement and financial management
practices that conform with international practices with the addition of any specific
requirements of individual funding institutions.

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