The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Civil Society Coalition for Oil has reported an invasion of speculators rushing to acquire properties in areas of Gomba in a scheme to reap from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project.
Gomba is among the ten districts where the proposed 1,445 kilometres long East African Crude Oil pipeline will pass from Hoima in Uganda to the refinery in Tanzania. The terminal will run through 25 sub counties in Uganda.
But the leadership of the coalition has indicated that many unsuspecting persons especially landlords are being cheated by speculators through covert land transactions. Rose Nakawuma, a Community Based Monitor for Gomba district has indicated that the area is witnessing a rise in the number of unfamiliar land brokers targeting especially semi-illiterate rural landlords whom they secretly lure into selling their land.
Nakawuma has indicated that they have already identified about 15 cases in the parishes of Kyayi and Kyabagamba, in Maddu Sub County, the proposed terminal of the pipeline. She explains that some of these speculators disguise as partners helping to process documentation of ownership for semi-illiterate landlords who they later cheat out of ignorance.
This was disclosed during an assessment meeting on the project’s impact on the environment and human life, in the areas earmarked for the Oil Pipeline.
Nakawuma has, on the other hand, expressed concern that the ongoing compensation negotiations have not fully involved women, a move that threatens their survival after the project implementation.
According to her, many communities in the area still hold the women as inferior beings thereby deliberately omitting their participation in discussions and decision making processes.
Gomba district Communications Officer Saleh Ssenyonjo says they are also following the lead, adding that they recently cautioned the community against dealing with any suspicious persons in relation to the project.
Meanwhile, Bilal Kyakoojo, the Community Based Monitor for Midwestern Region Anticorruption Coalition-MIRAC says that the project has instead generated undue excitement in the community. He observed that there is a huge communication gap between government, project implementers and the community to enable them to make informed decisions.
However, Doctor Sebastian Lwengabo, the coalition’s National Coordinator says they are going to engage all duty bearers including the government on the identified challenges to find ways of mitigating them.
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