By George Busiinge

The Buliisa football mini-league facilitated by TotalEnergies kicked off on Sunday in Buliisa district. Sixteen men’s football teams and six women’s football teams from different sub-counties in Buliisa are taking part.

While flagging off Total-Buliisa mini football league in the presence of key Buliisa district local leaders, the District Education Officer Godfrey Muhumuza appreciated the oil company for their kindness.

Damien Balossier from TotalEnergies said: "We organize the league to promote sportsmanship, talent search & development in the Company's areas of operation. This aligns with the company's commitment to youth inclusion & engagement with host communities.”

Caroline Namyalo, the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at TotalEnergies the mini football league was introduced in 2014. It was hoped that it would increase interaction between the company and local people.

It was hoped that it would promote unity and healthy living among the young people.

The matches will be held at four different school playgrounds in Buliisa. These will include Uganda Martyrs, Avogera, Biiso, and Booma.

TotalEnergies also facilitated the refurbishment of these playing grounds.

Fred Balikenda, a resident of Kirama village, in Kigwera Sub County, Buliisa district is a bitter man. His anguish stems from the discovery of oil and gas in his home district Buliisa. 

While the country is basking in the possibility of reaping billions of American dollars from the discovered oil and gas, Balikenda is counting losses and homelessness. 

When the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the government of Uganda embarked on the development phase of the country’s oil sector, Balikenda’s land in Kirama village was identified to host an oil well. 

The process to acquire his land commenced and has since dragged on to no end leaving him distressed, bitter and broke. 

Balikenda and TotalEnergies, the operator of the Tilenga Project in Buliisa, agreed that he, and his 12 children, should be resettled at a piece of land which had been identified in Kirama. 

But years later, this hasn’t been achieved because, according to TotalEnergies, there were delays in acquiring land to resettle Balikenda. 

This has left Balikenda with no place to confidently call home because of the delays in resettling him. 

While TotalEnergies is building a house for him at a new site, the oil company has fenced off his old land leaving him to live in a cage of sorts. 

This restrictive fencing off by the French company has led to the death of his two (pregnant) pigs that have been a source of his income.

Also, because TotalEnergies has started developing his old land to prepare for the digging of the oil well, Balikenda cannot undertake any economic activity on the land. 

His children are not going to school because he has no income to facilitate their education and the family constantly hopes to be relocated. 

Balikenda is now demanding that TotalEnergies compensates him for the lost pigs and poultry, land, time and rights abused. 

TotalEnergies which is in constant dialogue with Balikenda has offered to rent him a house in Kirama village as it waits to complete the construction at the site where he is supposed to be resettled, an offer Balikenda turned down. 

The story of Balikenda is one of the many oil and gas Projects Affected Persons (PAPs) in Buliisa, Hoima and Kikuube districts have faced and live to tell, with sad faces.  

To get redress, Balikenda and other PAPs, with the help of the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) have taken these matters to court, but even there, justice has not been forthcoming. 

Recently, AFIEGO and partners wrote to Dr Flavian Zeija, The Principal Judge, informing him of their planned protest showing dissatisfaction with Uganda’s judiciary for the delay in deciding Civil Suit No. 059 of 2021.

The affected PAPs, with support from AFIEGO, in March 2014, filed a case under Article 50 of the 1995 Uganda Constitution seeking redress over the violation of their constitutional rights including the right to receive prompt, fair, and adequate compensation before the acquisition or possession of their land.

And today, 9th March 2023, AFIEGO and some of the PAPs addressed a press conference in Kampala at Hotel Africana indicating that they had petitioned the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Norbert Mao, the chief justice Alfonse Owinyi Dollo and his deputy, Richard Buteera, over the delayed hearing of their compensation cases.

Through the petition, the PAPs and AFIEGO want the judiciary officials to intervene and stop the ongoing injustices caused by delayed hearing of their cases to save the oil-affected communities from further suffering. 

They also issued an ultimatum.

“Within one month from to date, if the judiciary fails to respect the people’s constitutional rights such as a right to a speedy trial, hundreds of the oil-affected persons will walk from the villages and protest at the offices of the Chief Justices, Deputy Chief Justice, Principal Judge, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Inspectorate of Government and other authorizes,” the PAPs warned.  

Households whose land in Hoima district was acquired for the Kabaale Industrial Park, commonly known as the oil refinery project, yesterday protested against the Ugandan judiciary’s failure to dispense them with justice. The protest took place in Hoima district.

Those whose land was compulsorily acquired by TotalEnergies for the Tilenga Industrial Area in Buliisa district also held a protest against the judiciary. The protest took place in Buliisa district.

The households filed cases in Uganda’s High Court and Court of Appeal in 2014 and 2021 respectively. The households sought court’s intervention to protect their right to receiving prompt, fair and adequate compensation that is provided for under Article 26 of Uganda’s 1995 Constitution.

Unfortunately, since filing of the court cases, the people have never received justice.

“Court was supposed to hear our case yesterday [February 9] but when we arrived at the Hoima High Court, we were informed that our case file is still at the Masindi High Court.

On November 10, 2022, however, the Masindi High Court told us not to go back to Masindi. They informed us that our case would be heard at the Hoima High Court,”  Innocent Tumwebaze, the chairperson of the Oil Refinery Residents Association (ORRA), says.

He adds, “To make matters worse, even if the file had been at Hoima High Court, no hearing would have taken place because the judge was absent.”

Margaret Nankya, an oil refinery-affected person, says, “Why are the courts failing poor communities? Do they want to contribute to the oil curse? If poor women’s land is taken and the women aren’t paid fair and adequate compensation, then women are condemned to poverty. This is unacceptable and courts must stop such injustices. It however looks like they are not interested in protecting us.”

John Tundulu, one of the Tilenga community observers, says, “Justice is not for the poor: this is the conclusion that the judiciary perhaps wants us to arrive at. When government sued us in 2020, the judiciary quickly heard government’s case and said that we must take the inadequate and unfair compensation that TotalEnergies was giving us for our property.

We filed an appeal against this unfair judgement in 2021. The appeal has never been fixed for hearing nearly two years later. This is despite us writing to the Deputy Chief Justice requesting that we be given justice.”

The Ugandan government sued the nine Tilenga Industrial Area-affected households that rejected TotalEnergies’ low compensation because Total acquired their land on behalf of the Ugandan government.

The Tilenga- and oil refinery-affected people have promised that after their protests in the Bunyoro sub-region, they are going to hold demonstrations at the offices of the Principal Judge and Deputy Chief Justice in Kampala before the end of this month.

“The oil-affected people must be listened to. The Ugandan government and its partners including TotalEnergies as well as China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) must walk their talk on respecting human rights.

They tell financiers and other stakeholders that they are implementing their projects in the most sustainable and human rights-compliant manner but this is far from the truth.

They are trampling on communities’ rights and institutions such as the judiciary that should be holding them accountable are only looking on,” Mr. Dickens Kamugisha, the CEO of Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), says.

AFIEGO has empowered the people since 2011 to defend their rights.