Oil Company in Guyana destroyed the livelihoods of communities in Uganda

Jun 09, 2022 News

…displaced residents, fail to pay promised compensation

Kaieteur News – The discovery and production of hydrocarbons—crude oil and associated gases—have over the past 100 years, transformed the global landscape to the benefit and prosperity of some and the detriment of others.

The protestors also unfurled a banner with ‘End Oil Colonialism’ across the front of the May Fair Hotel on Stratton Street. (Photo Credit: DailyMail)

Oil companies over the past century have, across the globe, in their quest for ‘black gold’ exploited numerous countries of this precious resource, literally plundering nations while pauperising its citizens further.
The African Continent is blessed with an abundance of resources, including oil, which is being produced in large quantities but to the detriment of its people.
Two weeks ago, Extinction Rebellion staged a protest at the Mayfair Hotel in London, England where an African Oil Conference was being hosted and demanded an end to the exploitation of Africa and an end to the ‘oil colonialism’ in the continent.
During that activity, testimonials were aired, speaking to the destruction and decimation of livelihoods being perpetrated with one such focusing specifically on Uganda by one of oil companies there — Total which also operates in Guyana.
Speaking to just one of the hundreds of operations there—Total’s—it was pointed out by a citizen of Uganda that up to 10 districts had been affected with people’s livelihoods lost, to the point where houses are now falling apart, schoolchildren have had to drop out and the schools now shuttered.
Detailing the travails meted out to the communities, particularly farmers, the Ugandan citizen, “indeed the situation on the ground especially for the project affected persons in the 10 districts starting with my district is not good.”
Speaking to one facet of their travails, the Ugandan citizen recalled that the persons in the 10 districts who are affected, had their properties assessed around December 2018 up to May 2019.
It was pointed out that this cut off point was selected by Total’s consultant and was established in order to effect a resettlement plant and to stop the project affected persons from using their land from any further development.
“Imagine from 2019 to now, no one has been compensated, people have not been using their land,” the Ugandan citizen lamented.
It was further noted that during interactions with one such affected person, a cattle keeper who had seven acres –they (Total) told him to stop, don’t develop it. He was telling me he used to bring the machine to cut the grass and make sure that the farm is clean but because he was told that anytime he would be compensated, he stopped that.”
Citing another example, it was pointed out that during discussions with one of the elders of another district, that the affected persons had also been barred from farming their produce—all with a promise of being compensated.
The Ugandan used the opportunity to stress that most of the affected persons are like the elders, “who grow coffee; most of the people along this corridor, they are farmers, cattle keepers. Most of them, they are growing coffee and you realise that indeed, there is a big challenge.”
Additionally, it was revealed that after the affected citizens began to bring pressure on the authorities, “Total came back and said you can grow crops that cannot take beyond three months; you can imagine coffee takes almost three to five years to grow.”
In providing the testimonial, the Ugandan stressed that this was not an isolated situation but rather was a trend that continues to happen.
“All the schools are closed, all the children have dropped out of school; today if you come to the area where I stay, it’s really a mess,” the protestors and conference delegates heard.