‘Our ancestors have a piercing philosophy…. bw’olya eggi wesubya omuwula…, if you enjoy an omelette today, you forfeit a drumstick tomorrow. The omelette comes from killing an egg that would have hatched into a cockerel for the drumstick. This is what we are witnessing in the anti-EACOP sabotage.
We need to look beyond the immediate gain and focus on the bigger picture and the prosperity that EACOP holds for East Africa and Africa. We are in an era of cut-throat scramble for resources…and global economic and technological domination…an oil economy is a rich economy…that scares many…no one up there wants to see Uganda being a Norway’… Mzee Mashurubu was visibly incensed. He had just read the first pages of the dossier that Naughty Nephew had compiled and printed for him. For the last week or so, he has devoted time to studying the EACOP phenomenon. And he has deployed his able aide, Naughty Nephew, to research and print out all the facts and figures about EACOP. Virtually anything published about EACOP. His rage was triggered by the first twenty pages he had read. Most of these are from the many ‘civil society organisations’ that are mushrooming by the day in opposition to the EACOP project. He quotes a statement from the website of one such organisation… ‘it is estimated that over 10,000 families will be displaced by construction alone, with up to 10 times that number directly affected by the pipeline’s operations. Oil extraction and transportation will affect valued ecosystems, and not only the Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda’s oldest nature reserve: it will also pose a threat to the Bugoma, Taala and Wambabya forests in Uganda…’
This is an excerpt from the website of Civicus, a platform for ‘civil society’ activism. And a cursory scan of its facts and figures tells it all: nothing could be farther from the truth. For starters, the number of projects affected persons according to the EACOP website is 3,792. Why then the hyperbole of’10,000 families and perhaps 10 times more’?
The 3,792 project affected persons are spread across 171 villages, in 27 sub counties and 3 town councils in the 10 EACOP districts of Hoima, Kikuube, Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, Mubende, Gomba, Sembabule, Lwengo, Rakai, Kyotera. And out of these 3,792 project-affected persons only 198 households will lose dwelling, meaning these are the households that will need relocation due to the pipeline construction. And of the households that will not relocate, 70% will lose less than 30% of their land area. Whether relocating or not, all are compensated. The 296 km section of the 1,443km-long EACOP is what is in Uganda. And no section of this crosses Murchison Falls National Park. The park is located in Masindi and Nwoya Districts, with its fringes being in Buliisa and Kiryandongo. None of these is an EACOP district. Kikuube District, the EACOP district closest to Murchison Falls National Park, is 131 kilometres away. Negative news indeed travels fast! The pipeline, which will be buried deep between 1.8 and 2.0 metres underground, will be covered and the surface allowed to regenerate after construction. The pipeline corridor of 30 metres wide, reducing to 10 metres after construction, will not be tarmacked. The regenerated surface will enable the grazing of wildlife and livestock, even the growing of seasonal shallow root crops.
The major civil works along the pipeline will be the four Main Camp and Pipe Yard( MCPY) centres, which will be self-contained mini-towns during the construction phase of the project. These will be located in Kakumiro, Mubende, Sembabule and Kyotera. They are the key above-the-ground installations taking up land in a localized manner. The main watercourse that will be crossed by the pipeline are River Kafu, River Nabakazi, River Katonga, River Kibaale and River Jamukunya. The design and rigid structure of the pipeline will cross the water-courses, with no contact of water with the flowing oil. Thus, no pollution as alleged above. Taala central forest reserve will be crossed at a modified point, while Kasana-Kasambya forest will be circumvented at the eastern end. The pipeline will not enter this forest.
‘Stay tuned for more facts and figures…EACOP holds our destiny’
