Uganda's parliament on Friday passed controversial legislation governing the country's nascent oil sector that critics say hands too much power to the president. "The bill has been passed...the government took the day," said Uganda's state minister for energy Simon D'Ujanga. Legislators voted in favour of the bill regulating the exploration and production of oil reserves after months of rancorous debate that saw parliament temporarily suspended.

The endorsed legislation includes a hotly disputed clause that sees the energy minister handed unlimited control over granting and revoking licenses and negotiating agreements.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012