CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATION VIEWS ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF OBSERVANCE OF RIGHTS FROM OIL EXPLORATION IN UGANDA

Legal and human rights dimension of Oil and Gas in exploration in Uganda.

Is oil and Gas “curse” in Uganda, or we suffer from the “Dutch Disease”. These were the words of the participants at the workshop to understand the link between the Oil and how the community rights can be realized and protected and how CSO’s can create awareness about Oil in the community.

Introduction of Oil exploration in Uganda.

The exploration begun in 1920 up to 1952. In 1983 Oil exploration resumed and led to the creation of Petroleum Unit of 1985 and the subsequent petroleum Act. During this period a lot of survey was done about Oil but little realized. In 1993, regulations were passed to regulate petroleum activities and later Government started to market these resources. This has led to the current exploration activities taking place in Uganda.

The areas having Oil in Uganda are; the Albertine Graben, the Hoima Basin, the Kioga Basin,kadama area,L.Wamala basin and Victoria basin. High potential of Ugandans Oil is embedded in the Albertine Basin which stretches from West Nile towards Kisoro.It borders DRC through the several ecosystems.

The status for licensing of Oil in Uganda as; Block 1 Pakwach basin to Heritage Oil and Tullow ,Block 2 Albert Basin to Tullow, Block 3A Semulik basin to Heritage-Tullow and Block 4c to Dominion.62 wells have been drilled and 58 are having Oil, this make it 92%success rate. The quality of Ugandan Oil is Medium  value in solid state with low Gas ratio and about 2.5 billion barrows discovered. Uganda Plans to build the refinery in kabala-Bullisa districts.

Legal and Human rights frame work in Uganda as far as Oil is concerned.  

The constitution of Uganda talk about the ownership as provided in the Article 26 (constitutional provision and amendment) “all mineral and petroleum in, on or under any land or water in Uganda are vested in the Government on behalf of the republic of Uganda”. Why the government of Uganda and Republic at the same time brings concern that it belongs to the Ministers and the President.

But Article 26 of the constitution guarantee the right to own property and land being part, but the same land can be taken by the Government for the purpose of Public use. This same Article has been used in Bullisa to evict the people from their land. Section 5/3 of the land acquisition Act requires a person having an interest in such land to “state the amount and the particular” and their claim for compensation of those interests. But such have been challenged by Ignorance of the local people, land grabbing, and low value of money on the side of the peasants above all the payment taking time to be realized.

The grazing and cultivation rights seem not taken into account especially Article 37 which talks about the right to practice and cultural practice as grazing. But the concern was how the cattle in the grazing community were taken into consideration during this eviction process. The petroleum Act Section 39 talks about the same.

The environmental Impact Assessment especially section 20(I) entails the company to carry out study and submit a statement to NEMA. The statement shall be Public document which may be inspected which could be done through public hearings, meetings interviews

Right to clean and health environment should be taken into consideration. Article 39 of the constitution and the petroleum Act section 31 obliges a licensee to mitigate and prevent damages that may harm the environment or its inhabitants

The transparency matters were taken into account as outlined in the right to access information as one way to be transparent. Article 41 of the constitution is cognizant of one right to access information. Also the Access to information Act of 2005, but it was realized that the PEP Act of 1985 contravene the above and some of the by-laws in the contracts between Uganda and the Oil companies make some information to be taken as classified thus denying he citizens the right to free access to information.

Other legal rights observed were the right to work. This is seen from Article 7 of the International Covenant of Economic social and cultural rights. It talks about the right to favourable conditions of work, safe and health working conditions. Article 40(2) of the constitution provides for right to work and is in conformity with the above.

………………………………To be continued

Farmers in Kisinga sub county appreciate having plant clinic.

Farmers in Kisinga sub county appreciate having plant clinic.

“Healthy plants for a healthy future” is now the motto in Kisinga Sub-County Kasese District. Kisinga is located in Bukonzo County East. Speaking to some of the farmer’s e on 11.11.11 during a field monitoring exercise of the Plant Clinic in Kisinga by the RIC-NET Community Out Reach Officer Kaliba Charles and Dr. Reeder Robert from Global Plant wise UK, the farmers expressed gratitude to RIC-NET and Asaba Wilberforce the Kisinga Plant Doctor for extending Plant Clinic services closer to them.

According to the Plant Doctor, Asaba Wilberforce, he noted that I attend to 25-35 farmers every market day and 10 farmers on a daily basis at the plant clinic in Kiburara trading center. The crops mostly affected and brought to the clinic for diagnosis are maize, mangoes, tomatoes, beans, cassava, cotton coffee, and bananas. The farmers revealed that there biggest challenge is Banana bacterial wilt which has reduced banana production and led to continued poverty and hunger in the Sub County

During the Plant  Clinic operation, the team also learnt from the numbers of clients received that  Cassava mosaic virus disease (CMD) caused by Cassava Mosaic Gemini viruses (CMGs) was the other commonest disease affecting the crops in the area second to bananas. This too has contributed to low yields at harvest time.

Besides, cassava, are beans which too are affected by Bacteria (the Black bean Aphid [Aphisfabae). that leads to stunted growth, yellowing and sometimes causes black spotting of leaves leading to extensive damage of the crops.  Responding to the clients’ complaints, Dr, Reeder Robert, mentioned that currently there is no medicine to treat these cases brought to him especially the beans, bananas and cassava. He noted that Cassava mosaic cases can only be prevented by planting good and disease free stems. Dr. Reeder, advised the farmers on some best agricultural practices like planting disease free stems, suckers and seeds together with proper and timely preparation of the fields.

Other cases that were identified were on Mangoes which were observed to have black spots and splitting at a later stage.  According to Mr. Muhindo, the infection had reduced yields per plant. They revealed that, previously from one mango tree, they would harvest around three basins per season but currently they harvest only one basin per season. Commenting on this, Dr.Reeder Robert explained that just as we Humans beings need daily medication attention so do plants; “We should not wait for the whole field to be destroyed before we take action” he asserted.