The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu has rubbished the resolution by the European Union Parliament seeking to delay East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) over alleged human rights violations and environmental concerns.
While speaking at the Green Energy Africa Summit in Cape Town in South Africa, the Minister noted that the EU Parliament resolution clearly displayed, distortion, hearsay and their limited knowledge about the realities of Uganda’s oil and gas projects.
She went on to reveal that the EACOP project, which is the subject of the resolution, has been designed to minimize irremediably harming the livelihoods of farmers, fisher folk and tourism business owners who depend on the region’s rich natural resources.
“The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (Uganda) notes that the European Union Parliament resolution contains several distortions, hearsay, and generalizations because a specific Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) was undertaken, and targeted measures were put in place to address any potential adverse effects on land-based livelihoods as part of the project. Thus, the Ministry would like to strongly disagree with the misleading narrations of human rights abuses detailed in the resolution about oil and gas projects,” she said.
She added that regarding the impact, the EACOP in Uganda affected 3,648 PAPs (not 100,000 or so as claimed by the EU Parliament), of which 2,662 have already signed compensation agreements and 1,977 fully paid.
“The project is also constructing 183 replacement houses for the PAPs who opted for physical resettlement. Contrary to the claims in the EU Parliament’s resolution, the compensation process is progressing well, and no land has been acquired before fair and adequate compensation payment.”
The former Kiboga women member of Parliament further cautioned the EU parliament not to jeopardize the EACOP project because currently a number of people are earning a living from it and more are expected to get employed.
“Ugandans are already reaping benefits from the progress of the oil activities, with 160,000 people expected to be employed at the peak of activities. Currently, 5,000 people are employed, of which 94 per cent are Ugandans. In addition, international development partners such as the World Bank are supporting targeted skilling and infrastructure developments where oil and gas activities are taking place to enable the citizens and communities maximally benefit from the sector’s activities,” she said.
On the issue of environmental and climate degradation, Nankabirwa noted that Uganda’s oil projects have been designed to technologically generate the lowest possible carbon footprint. Overall, the projects fall within the category of “low emission”. The carbon dioxide equivalent (C02e) emission per barrel for Uganda’s upstream and midstream projects is estimated to be 20-45 kgC02e. This is well below the global average of 70-100 kgC02e.
Last month on the 16th the EU Parliament adopted a resolution stopping the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), also known as the Uganda–Tanzania Crude Oil Pipeline (UTCOP) due to major environmental and climate risks posed by the execution of the project, they also accused the two governments and the contractors of human rights violations.
According to the EU Parliament, more than 100,000 persons are being forcibly evicted to make space for the coveted pipeline project and they are being deprived of the use of their ‘land’ and so, of their livelihood before receiving the required compensations.
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