“This pipeline is neo-colonialism of the purest kind”
Total Energies and the Ugandan government want to build an oil field and a 1,500 kilometer pipeline in the Murchison Nature Park. Environmentalists warn of a natural disaster and denounce that poverty beckons for 100,000 expropriated people. “We are being chased out of our homes as slaves.’
Corruption in Uganda is characterized by large-scale theft of public funds and petty corruption involving officials at all levels of society, as well as widespread political patronage systems . Elite corruption in Uganda takes place via patronage system exacerbated by foreign aid. Aid has provided the government with large amounts of resources that contribute to the country's corrupt practices. The style of corruption used is to gain loyalty and support so that officials can stay in power. One of the more recent forms of corruption is through public procurement due to the lack of transparency with transactions that take place within the government.
In 2006, geologists discovered a large oil reservoir of 65 billion barrels on the Ugandan side of Lake Albert. Six years later, French oil giant Total — meanwhile TotalEnergies — began building an oil field in that area, which will consist of 34 platforms and a total of 400 oil wells. Ten of these platforms — representing 132 wells — will be built in the Murchison Falls Nature Park. It is planned that TotalEnergies will exploit the largest oil field: the so-called Tilenga area. A smaller field, Kingfischer, is in the hands of the Chinese multinational CNOOC.
No more manioc and bananas Oil extraction and EACOP are not only leading to environmental hazards in Murchison Falls Park. The pipeline runs near vulnerable water basins such as Lake Victoria in Uganda and Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania. Part of the trajectory goes through earthquake-prone regions. Renaud: 'I can't think about a leak happening near Lake Victoria. This not only jeopardizes a beautiful lake, but also the drinking water supply of 40 million Ugandans.’
Is Uganda going after Nigeria?
