SNOOC is Doing a Commendable Work, EACOP Could be Turning Point to Uganda’s Economy
It is said that Kampala never sleeps, “the party capital of East Africa” any revealers call the city. But walking across the neon lit bar strips of Acacia and upper Kololo or the music blaring Bandali rise one can almost forget that this was unthinkable two decades ago. The neon lights would be flickering due to irregular electricity supply, the sounds of music blaring over the streets would’ve been drowned by coughing generators one spasm away from the dark abyss of load-shedding. Uganda like many other African countries was facing an energy crisis where the industrial and domestic need for electricity far outpaced the ready supply. To address this the government decides to construct the famous Owen Falls Dam at Bujagali.
This project initially funded by the world bank soon quipped the interest of foreign “environmental and climate” activists who pens blazing launched a scathing attack on the project lobbying both local leaders and politicians as well as unleashing a tirade of international pressure forcing the original contractor to (at great cost) pull out of the arrangement. Eventually the Owen Falls Dam was completed at a significantly greater cost to the Ugandan taxpayer and a less favorable Private-Public Partnership agreement than was in place earlier. However, the neon lights on Kanjokya street every night are a reminder that the Bujagali dam project is paying off.
Why do I bring this up now? For over a year now the East African Crude Oil Pipeline has for over a year now been under attack from a similar ilk of foreign “environmental crusaders” who are using all tools at their disposal to stall and stop the project. The latest weapon in their arsenal is a resolution by the European Parliament to compel Uganda, Total Energies and the China National Offshore Oil Company to stall the pipeline project by at least a year as they carry out among other things a secondary impact assessment study.
Besides the fact that it feels quite tone deaf that at a time when the shifting power dynamics within the Commonwealth establishment have reinvigorated the discussion on colonialism and neo-colonialism a group of (largely) former colonial powers comes together to pass resolutions “compelling” African countries to do their bidding, it seems objectively bordering on double standards because the same nations are urging the OPEC organization to increase its gas output to make up for the Russian supply irregularities caused by the conflict in Ukraine. A little closer to home perhaps the European Parliament may be interested in debating the British oil companies fracking within the North East Sea and what impact that could have on the environment as well as Brussels backtracking on coal reduction targets.
Admittedly, there is need for African countries to watch their Carbon footprint especially when it comes to fossil fuels. What many critics decline to mention is that Africa’s contribution as a whole to the global carbon footprint is close to negligible. As International Energy Agency’s executive director Fatih Birol noted; “if we make a list of the top 500 things, we need to do to be in line with our climate targets, what Africa does with its gas does not make that list.” Truly when one looks at the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gas Uganda and Tanzania are no where close to the biggest threats to the Sustainable Green energy goals.
Most importantly, European countries should pick a leaf from the Chinese development assistance policies which are infrastructure oriented and non interventionist rather than dictating the course of sovereign nations. In a glaring contrast, while European “climate czar” Frans Timmermans and European members of Parliament debate the energy policies of the country the Chinese ambassador to Uganda H.E Zhang Lizhong was over the weekend at the Kingfisher oil field in Western Uganda to oversee the tremendous work of the CNOOC in setting up oil infrastructure that will be used in the project.
In a viral picture he is seen with a Ugandan female oil engineer, Kahwa Lucy formerly on Chinese scholarship now working at the oil site, a diplomacy masterclass revealing China’s commitment to infrastructure capacity building in the country.
During the same tour, the ambassador witnessed arrival of more components of drilling rigs raising hopes that Uganda’s first oil is about to be seen. With CNOOC’s president Chen Zhuobiao, Ambassador Zhang Lizhong assured researchers and journalists who visited the site that all environmental related concerns raised by EU parliament had been addressed since they had been raised in environmental impact assessment studies. The ambassador also noted that it is unacceptable EU to use claims of environment and human rights in to delay important national development project.
In the long run, it is very possible that Uganda’s oil fortunes can be turned around to fuel a greener economy, it has been done before (albeit on a smaller scale) in countries like Egypt and more recently the United Arab Emirates. Currently the logging of forests for firewood and charcoal burning may pose a more immediate threat to the environment than an oil pipeline built to match global standards of environmental sustainability.
Anyway, tonight, because of the dauntless tireless turbines churning noisily in Bujagali, a few million lights are flickering in the entertainment Capital of East Africa, countless beacons of hope in the “dark content”. Perhaps the oil pipeline may just be the artery that pumps life into the Ugandan economy and awakens the “sleeping continent”.
Shemei Ndawula, is a Research Fellow at Development Watch Centre.
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