26 NEW VISION, Tuesday February 25, 2014

OIL, MINERALS & ENERGY

The men say the oil compensation money

Women stranded as
men spend on booze
T
By Carol Natukunda
and Robert Atuhairwe

hey call it class-izo: the

classy life they had never
dreamed of. With the oil
compensation
monies
trickling in, the men in
Hoima refinery villages
can now afford an extra beer, new
clothes, music systems and to marry a
second or even a third wife. They believe the money is a gift from President
Yoweri Museveni and his government.
When you look at the notes, they
have the word Bank of Uganda on
them. Museveni gave us this money
because it is ours, we are Ugandans
privileged to be born in the refinery
area, says one man as he staggers in
Kabale trading centre. Raising his bottle
of beer, he says: This is my breakfast.
Some of the men have bought boda
bodas and old vehicles. They dont use
them for business. Instead, they park
them under tree sheds in the vicinity
of small shacks serving as bars and
smoky pork joints.
For the first time, I have new clothes
and a woman, boasts one owner of
two motorcycles. He is sitting on one,
while the other serves as a table for his
brunch a glass of waragi and a stick
of pork.
For these men, it is Christmas time.
They are among the over 7,118 Kabale,
Nyamasoga, Kyapaloni village residents who will be displaced when the
refinery is commissioned in two years.
According to the resettlement action
plan report, 98% of the residents preferred to be compensated, while 2%
wanted resettlement.
Over sh70b was earmarked by the
Government to compensate and resettle the residents.
Those whose compensation exceeded sh100,000 would get their money
via bank accounts. The people who
opted for resettlement will be relocated
to Hoima, not far from Buseruka subcounty.
Although some of them have already
received their compensation fund (on
average between sh10m and sh100m,
depending on how big their property
was), the men have resorted to merry
making, leaving their wives and children with nothing.
I do not know how much my husband received. What I know is he got
the money and bought an old Fusso
truck. I dont even see him these days,
said Proscovia.
Proscovia, a mother of five children,
sells tomatoes in Kabale parish.
She says she is not sure what will
happen to them when the time comes
to vacate the property.
I feel bad because I have children.
We have been living here and cultivating acres of land. But my husband has
not bought any land for us to move to,
Proscovia laments.
Her colleagues are in the same situa-

Oil refinery
affected
persons during
one of the
sensitisation
meetings on
how to manage
compensation
money

tion but fear to speak on record.

They talk about one woman who recently collapsed on discovering that her
husband had married another woman
and rented a house for her in Hoima
town.
The men think the Government
is joking about relocating us, says a
mother of seven who fries mandazi on
the dusty roadside.
My husband bought a music system
and a TV for a kibanda he opened, yet
tomorrow; they are going to chase us.
He told me he cannot have sex with me
anymore when the women of Kampala
are now readily available, she said.
I think he is drinking to forget his
problems. I dont blame him. I blame
those oil people. We were at peace, before they came. Couldnt they find oil in
another part of the country? she wonders.

98%
The
percentage
of residents
who preferred
to be
compensated
in cash

Ozere, a father of three.

Christopher Opio, the secretary of
the Proposed Oil Refinery Beneficiaries Association, says the residents are
excited because they have never got
that much money.
Before we went for Christmas last
year, some residents got loans from
financial institutions to buy motorcycles and now they are repaying the
loans for the motorcycles with the
compensation, said Opio, a resident
of Kyapaloni.
Sadly, the women and children are
caught up in that.
Opio adds that many people are
emotionally attached to their homes,
and moving them is never going to be
easy.
Even I, who opted for resettlement in Buseruka, am a bit anxious
because I dont know how the community will receive me. Maybe that is
why many do not want to leave even
when they know they have to go, he
says.
Opio explains that when they
started the association, their
objective was to push

The men speak

The men say the compensation is too
little to resettle their families.
Javian Ozere, in his mid-30s, owns five
acres in Nyahaira sub-county.
Although he is yet to get his compensation, he says he is skeptical that it can
do much.
Most people have received about
sh3.5m per acre, but where can you
buy the same amount of land at that
price? Some people in the areas we
could go to have increased the price
of land because they think we have
money. A person who had 20 acres
is now buying one acre, which is
a very small plot and cannot accommodate a house and farming. People have resorted to
drinking alcohol as they wait
to see what comes next, says The men have squandered the compensation money on alcohol

Jackson Wabyona,
the chairperson of
the Bunyoro Local
and Oil Advocacy
Pressure Group, says
it was a mistake
to give residents
money
for the affected peoples rights.
But now we find ourselves counselling depressed mothers and starving
children who have nowhere to go.
Was issuing money a
mistake?
Jackson Wabyona, the chairperson
of the Bunyoro Local and Oil Advocacy Pressure Group, says it was a
mistake to give residents money. He
argues that the Government needed
to compensate the affected persons
with land.
We told them that the people they
were giving money are not prepared
for it, because the only income they
know is from subsistence farming,
he says.
The men are now thinking of
everything that money can buy, including commercial sex workers.

OIL, MINERALS & ENERGY

is a gift from Government

Kabaale trading centre where the Government plans to setup an oil refinery Photos by Robert Atuhairwe

ENERGY MINISTRY

ahir Hanji, the refinery

projects officer, says it
is only a small percentage
of people that have misused
the money. He adds that
the ministry carried out
comprehensive sensitisation
on how to utilise the money
before the compensation
exercise started.

Everyone is talking about starting

a business, which they have never
done, instead of looking for farm
land.
Wabyona
notes
that
even
though the majority of the residents
preferred cash compensation, the
government needed to take a strong
stand.
What do you expect of an ordinary person who has never held a
lot of money? They cannot say no to
even a coin, he says.
The government took this lightly
but it is going to cost us.
The impact of this, according to
Wabyona, will be the growth of
slums in Hoima district.
Hoima might be developing because of oil, but we are going to have
a group of people who are hopeless
and homeless. This is a crisis that
will have to be solved politically.
Energy ministry reacts
But the energy ministry says that it
is only a small percentage of people
that have misused the money.
The big number has bought land
and is moving on. The drunkards
are a few, but they are definitely a
concern, says Bahir Hanji, the refinery projects officer.
He adds that the ministry carried
out comprehensive sensitisation
on how to utilise the money before
compensation. In any community,
there are people who do not care, no
matter how much you talk to them.
We even got a special consultant to
train them on how to use the money
through enterprising projects. But
like in a classroom, you always have

An oil rig in Nwoya district

someone at the top and last position, Hanji says.

He reveals that the Government is
planning another round of sensitisation to save the lost souls.
We are going to work with the
family protection units under the
Police, not to scare them, but to
sensitise them on how to move forward.
Hanji says the Government was
right to give the residents cash because that is what they wanted.
Peasants also have rights. They
could have chosen to be relocated,
but many said they were adults who
could develop themselves, and we
could not object. It is regrettable that
some individuals have misused the
money, he says.
He also refuted claims that
the money given to the residents

is too little.
It depended on the property
value. Like in Kyapaloni area, land
is very expensive, so they could receive more. But the amount is from
sh3.5m onwards.
What next for the
women and children?
Cathy Murungi, the chairperson of
the Hoima District NGO Forum,
says the Government needs to have
a mechanism to ensure women are
entitled to a certain share of the
compensation.
Resettlement would have been
the good option for the woman,
but it is too late now. The problem
is, most of these women have spent
as long as 10 years with their men
when they are not legally married,
says Murungi.

NEW VISION, Tuesday February 25, 2014

27

Compensation models
around the world
Cash
World over, cash compensation during
involuntary relocations seems
to have many
negative consequences,
particularly for
peasant populations.
The sudden
cash in their
hands gives the
false impression of
wealth. For example,
the cash compensation given to those
affected by the KuleSudden cash in the hands of the displaced
khani hydroelectric
persons gives them the false impression
project in Nepal, South of wealth
Asia, which displaced
3,500 people in 1982,
produced a greater impact on peoples behaviour, than did loss
of property. They changed their lifestyle. Gambling and drinking
increased to an unprecedented level and some died miserably
due to stress and depression as a result of having nowhere to
go.
Another study done on a project in Indonesia revealed that
displaced families provided with only cash compensation suffered about a 50% reduction in income compared to pre-project
conditions, and their productive resource base was reduced by
47%.
Studies carried out at the Srisailam and Lower Manair dam
projects in India also confirm the inadequacy of cash as a mode
of compensation. Exclusive cash compensation was least useful
to the migrants in the long run.
A displaced person found it difficult to acquire comparable
land with the compensation money because of limited land market or higher value of land in the relocated area, where prices
doubled or even tripled almost overnight.
In addition, the costs for relocating, transporting and salvaging building materials put financial strain on the families. In
such circumstances, cash compensation was supplemented by
providing replacement assets.
Resettlement
In Uganda, about 199 families that were evicted from Wakiso
and Buyuki villages in Nama
subcounty in Mukono to pave way for the Bujagali power line construction. Most of them chose to be resettled in nearby villages
and had their lives turned around.
Compensation options included, either a plot of land with a
model house or building materials worth sh25m, sh5m as cost
of labour and sh300,000 for transport, plus 30% of the value
of a persons property as disturbance fee.
Many people opted for the houses. And they were all smiles as
they received keys to their three-bedroomed permanent houses
in 2009. The families were resettled in
Katoogo and
Nsasa villages. Each household also received an acre of land,
irrespective of how small their former plots were.
Thaban Kojja, 63, a former resident of Wakiso village told New
Vision in an earlier interview: I have 27 children and we lived in
a grass-thatched house for over 20 years. I also owned a small
plot of land. This house is a miracle for me.
The African Development Bank and the Japanese Bank for
International Cooperation funded the compensation at the cost
of sh34b.
In China, the Three Gorges hydro power plant displaced millions of people before it was completed in 2012. Said to be the
worlds largest hydroelectric project, it became the centre of attention, as 1.3 million people were resettled in new communities.
Besides low cost houses being constructed, the government set
up a special foundation to strengthen industrial development for
resettled people. About $60 million is being given each year to
needy enterprises operating in resettled areas.
Every business in resettled areas is exempted from customs
tariffs and local taxes. The measures aim to reduce unemployment in resettlement areas from around 15% now to 6% in
three to four years.
Joint bank accounts
In western Kenya where a sugar factory is going to being constructed, the residents have been given one option: to open joint
bank accounts with their spouses. This is meant to protect the
rural woman against spousal neglect.