Oil discovery, the land question and people’s welfare in Hoima and Kikuube Districts, Uganda

Abstract

The discovery of commercially viable oil deposits in the Albertine Graben in 2006 has negatively impacted local communities and consequently has led to numerous grievances (Holterman, 2014; NAPE, 2016; Ogwang, Vanclay Van den Assem, 2018). Some of the grievances are related to several petitions made to parliament and government ministries concerning violation of human rights, inequalities and inadequate and delayed compensation which government and oil companies have neglected. This is what prompted the researcher to carry out a study to examine the effect of oil discovery on land question, people’s welfare and gender relation in Hoima and Kikuube districts. The research used the political economy approach to understand the different political and economic dynamics involved in oil discovery, land question and people’s welfare. The two districts were selected because they host majority of oil infrastructures such as well pads, refineries, pipelines, an airport and a central processing facility, and are experiencing much land acquisition, resettlement activities and speculative land grabbing. The researcher used both descriptive and analytical cross sectional research survey design where purposive and simple random sampling methods were employed. Data was collected using key informant interviews, Focus Group Discussions, field observation, structured questionnaires and document review. A total of 170 respondents participated in the study. The researcher used simple descriptive tabulations to analyse data. The research findings reveal that Oil discovery impacted most of the community negatively as it led to displacement, increased land conflicts and grabbing, poverty, grievances, inequalities, inadequate compensation, destruction of property and crops, landless and left people under fear due to land conflicts. It contained violation of human rights, delayed compensation, inadequate information and did not involve the local leaders. From the analysis of research findings, the study therefore recommends that government of Uganda should make deliberate efforts in devising and making available to the public the policy, legal and institutional frame work especially on land ownership and acquisition, compensation and resettlement to deal with peculiar grievances arising out of the extractive industries that relates to oil. When legal and policy frameworks are devised in a fair and transparent way they play a key role in answering land questions, improving household welfare and determining women’s access to economic opportunities, including credit, land and property.