By Aryatwijuka Phillo,
LESSONS FROM THE ALBERTINE REGION COULD HELP DELIVER THE OIL PROMISE TO COMMUNITIES IN KARAMOJA
The
reality of the effects of oil exploration hit Uganda’s Albertine region hard
with the discovery of commercial quantities of oil and gas in 2006.From the big
infrastructure projects that saw acquisition of over 29sq.km of land and
consequently the displacement of over 7000 families in Kabaale Buseruka Hoima
to the displacement of over 250 families in Rwamutonga to pave way for a waste treatment
facility ,to the wave endless allegations by host communities on land grabbing ,in
adequate and unfair compensation across the Albertine region.
The
official announcement last year by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral
Development (MEMD) on the much anticipated oil and gas exploration in Moroto
–Kadam basin in Karamoja was followed by impressive best practice by MEMD of carrying
out sensitization amongst the oil exploration communities in Moroto-Kadam basin.
This announcement created a lot of positive and negative expectations amongst
communities in Karamoja with the biggest fear being land rights violations
considering that the land tenure system in Karamoja is communal and is
susceptible to land rights abuses. One Karamajong elder at a recent dialogue
alluded to one of the questions raised by an elder at the sensitization
meetings who said that “we have not been able to see the economic from minerals
like these rocks that we can see, those that don’t lie beneath the surface like
marble and limestone but they have been continuously exploited without tangible
benefits for the community what about oil that you cannot even see?
Considering
that Uganda has treaded the road of oil and gas exploration since 2006 the Karamajong
communities and Ugandans at large expect well-coordinated oil exploration
activities that are cognizant with the rights and benefits of host communities on
the premise that the government has learnt valuable lessons ,better practices
which are further reinforced by the presence of the legal and regulatory
framework that was absent in 2006 specifically oil and
gas policy 2008, the petroleum exploration, development and production act 2013
,the Public Finance and Management Act and the Land Policy 2013 that speaks to
some of the key questions relating to land rights.
The
question now remains if the Moroto Kadam host communities are ready for oil exploration.
Do they understand their rights? Do the local governments understand their
roles and responsibilities in these oil exploration processes? Are the District
land boards of the districts within the Moroto Kadam basin functional and do
they have the capacity to address any land related issues that may arise?
Answering these questions will address some of the impending challenges that
could arise from exploration
Ultimately
communities expect that any land acquisition for large infrastructure projects
within the region should respect the indigenous livelihoods and rights of
communities to land by facilitating fair, prompt and adequate compensation processes.
Communities further need access to timely information to enable them
participate effectively in oil sector decision making processes that directly
affect them. It’s through access to timely transparent information that
mistrust issues within different stakeholder groups that have ensued in the
Albertine region over the last 14 years can be avoided.
On the
other hand protection of the critical ecosystems in Karamoja during exploration
should be put at the forefront by ensuring that best practices from oil
exploration in the Albertine are also translated in Karamoja region to avoid
biodiversity loss and promote environmental integrity.
Moving
forward with the extensive extractive resources across Karamoja and Uganda as a
whole the transparency and accountability mechanisms could further be
strengthened by the Uganda joining the Extractives
Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI)
No comments:
Post a Comment