Human Rights Defender of the month: Mugisha Jelousy

As the rest of Uganda readies itself to finally get its oil out of the ground with the conclusion of the Final Investment Decision (FID), Mugisha Jealousy, 50, is one of those following the events with a mournful resignation.     

A resident of Kasenyi village, Nile Parish in Buliisa district, Mugisha is one of those affected by the Tilenga project, a multipronged project by Total E&P. The project involves reservation and development of land in districts of Buliisa and Nwoya for oil exploration, setting up of a crude oil processing plant and related infrastructure to support Uganda’s oil production activities.

In the inaugural resettlement plan (Resettlement Plan one), a total of 643 persons were affected by the Tilenga Project. Mugisha says that in most of these cases, Total E&P would demarcate land it wanted to use, arbitrarily evaluate it and proceed to fence it off for use, regardless of whether the occupants of the land agreed to the valuation or not. This, Mugisa says is the crux of the injustice:

"For those of us who never agreed with Total E&P’s valuation, we were never compensated, yet our land was fenced off, leaving us helpless. For example, after Total E&P’s valuation, my home was gazetted as a secondary home, which meant that I would not be relocated but would instead be paid a mere Shs.12million as compensation, which I refused, because can you build a reasonable home today with Shs.12million,”

In 2019, alarmed by Total E&P’s activities, Mugisa and a few other colleagues appealed to local NGOs among which were Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and the National Association for Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), which, partnering with two other French NGOs supported the project affected persons to sue Total E&P for abuse of the former’s rights in France. Mugisha was one of the project-affected persons who travelled to France to testify in the case, and on return, he was briefly detained at Entebbe International Airport

"I was held for about seven hours and was warned to stop activism against the Tilenga project. It appears the purpose was to threaten and intimidate me, because I was later released,”

But Mugisha says he will not be deterred. Following the lawsuit by the project-affected persons in France, Uganda government through the Attorney General moved to deposit the compensation money declined by the project-affected persons in court, to pave way for the Tilenga project activities to go ahead. Although the Masindi High Court ruled in the Government and Total E&P’s favor last year, Mugisa says he and his colleagues are ready to appeal the High Court’s decision.

I was held for about seven hours and was warned to stop activism against the Tilenga project. It appears the purpose was to threaten and intimidate me, because I was later released

But Mugisha says he will not be deterred. Following the lawsuit by the project-affected persons in France, Uganda government through the Attorney General moved to deposit the compensation money declined by the project-affected persons in court, to pave way for the Tilenga project activities to go ahead. Although the Masindi High Court ruled in the Government and Total E&P’s favor last year, Mugisha says he and his colleagues are ready to appeal the High Court’s decision.

"If Total E&P cannot give me the money for which I think my home is due, let them resettle me. All I want is an alternative piece of land, complete with a house for me to be relocated to so I can vacate my current land. Other people who did not have houses on their lands want to be resettled on other lands. They want land for land, not money, because Total E&P will not give them the money, they think their land is due"

Beyond compensation, Mugisa is also worried at the long-term environmental costs the Tilenga project’s activities are going to have on Buliisa district and its people.

 

 “For example, Total is planning to construct a Central Processing Facility on 772 acres. It has contracted Motor Engine to prepare the land, and Motor Engine proceeded to clear all the 772 acres of all vegetation, leaving the entire land bare. Imagine 772 acres of bare ground, no grass, no vegetation, nothing. All the neighboring areas are being suffocated by dust,”

As Chairperson of the Resettlement Planning Committee under the Resettlement Action Plan One, Mugisha has moved to challenge this naked abuse of the environment, and last year, he wrote to Total E&P highlighting these environmental risks, forcing Total E&P, Motor Engine to meet up with the affected communities to devise a way forward.

Mugisha continues to face threats for his relentless activism.  He says he is always monitored for who he meets with, and whenever people come to meet him at his place, they are tracked and intimidated to not meet up with him again.

“But I will not be deterred. Our people must be compensated for what they are worth, because this (Oil and Gas) is a multi-billion-dollar project,”

See more HRDs of the Month

Human Rights Defender of the month: Omar Faruk Osman

Omar Faruk’s career, and the passion that drove it, were the product of his circumstances. He was born in 1976, in the first of strong man Mohamed Siad Barre’s two-decade rule over Somalia, which was characterized by gross rights abuses and barely existent civic space. He came of age in the 90s when those abuses and rights violations were peaking, as his country was engulfed by a ruinous civil war following the collapse of the Siad Barre dictatorship.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Rita Kahsay

When the Ethiopian Federal Government representatives and those of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed a peace agreement in Pretoria, in November last year, the two parties were hailed for ending arguably the deadliest conflict of the 21st century, in which over 600,000 people had died.
But long before the negotiators for peace got around to an agreement, there were many other unsung heroes, who, through individual and collective efforts helped sustain the world’s gaze on the dire situation in Tigray, despite the Ethiopian Government’s determined efforts to hush it up.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Godfrey Kagaayi

Born 33 years ago, in Bukoba, northern Tanzania, Godfrey Kagaayi did not have to look elsewhere for inspiration to tackle the daunting challenge of mental health. By his own admission, the family and community in which he was raised were fertile grounds for the same.
His family had crossed the border into Uganda when he was barely 5 months, settling into present day Rakai district. But the Rakai of the 90s was a difficult place for a child to make their earliest memories: In 1990, Uganda’s first ever case of HIV/AIDs was reported in the district, setting off a decade of suffering and anguish for many of its residents. Taking advantage of the Rakai’s fishing and polygamous lifestyle, the novel virus spread like wildfire, killing people in droves and leaving untold heartache in its wake.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Hiader Abdalla Abu Gaid

Hiader Abdalla Abu Gaid is one of the lucky survivors of Sudan’s latest conflict.

He was born 36 years ago, in Almalha locality, North Darfur state, the third born in a family of 10. Then, Darfur was not the hot bed of war and conflict it has since become infamous for. Although the region, predominantly inhabited by Sudan’s black population remained segregated by the predominantly Arab government in Khartoum, its people co-existed in thriving, predominantly subsistence communities. In Almalha, people reared camels and cattle, while others tended crops. The community was also famed for its hospitality to strangers, welcoming outsiders who ended up staying, owning land, and intermarrying with their hosts.

Human Rights Defender of the month:Immaculate Nabwire and Daphne Nakabugo

In personality, Immaculate Nabwire and Daphne Nakabugo could not be more different. Where the former is loud, if free-spirited, and mischievous, the latter is quiet, reticent, and predominantly solitary. Together though, they are the quiet champions behind DefendDefenders’ digital skilling programs, equipping (women) human rights defenders with critically transformative – and sometimes, life-saving digital tools and skills.
“You’ll be surprised how many people out there, including the literate are not exposed to the idea of digital safety. And as technology gets more advanced, it is getting ever more lucrative for hackers and other malign actors, which means that the urgency of the need for digital security skills for everyone cannot be over-stated,” says Daphne.

Human Rights Defender of the month:Mary Pais Da Silva

On 17 February 2023, in Ethiopia’s rustic resort of Bishoftu, more than 5000Km from her homeland, Mary Da Silva was announced winner of the 2023 AfricanDefenders Shield Award, in the presence of hundreds of colleague human rights defenders from 36 African countries. It was a fitting validation for the Eswatini human rights lawyer, whose sense of empathy and sensitivity to injustice has been a defining hallmark of her career.
Born 45 years ago in Lubombo, eastern Eswatini, the last of 4 siblings, Mary attributes her values to her upbringing. Although she was born in Eswatini, her parents are originally from Mozambique, and only relocated to eSwatini at the start of the Mozambican civil war that lasted between 1977-1992, which ravaged families and displaced many others.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Jane Naini Meriwas

Like many African societies, The Samburu community in Northern Kenya is a gerontocracy – a very hierarchical community in which elders hold sway over almost all private and public matters. Among these predominantly pastoral nomads, very little importance is attached to the young – especially young girls, who are barely given a chance at education and often married off before their first menstrual cycle, but not before they undergo mandatory Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
It is in this community that Jane Naini Meriwas was born 46 years ago, in Kipsing village, Oldonyiro Subcounty, Isiolo County. When she was 16, her mother passed on, and she watched with great trepidation as her father planned to marry another wife, not sure what that would mean for her or her ambitions for school. As it turned out, fate was on her side. When her father uncharacteristically asked what she thought of his plans, Jane seized the opportunity to stand up for herself and interests:

Human Rights Defender of the month: Kasale Maleton Mwaana

Kasale’s human rights activism precedes his years. The son of pastoralist parents from Ngorongoro district in northern Tanzania, he grew up seeing his parents and entire community having to defend their land and way of life against authorities who thought their lands could be put to better use. Now, at 25, Kasale is already one of the most recognizable advocates of his people’s cause, much to the ire of Tanzanian authorities.
“Our people’s struggle goes back many generations. It started with the pushing out of our forefathers from Serengeti to gazette Serengeti National Park in 1959, and then further evictions from the Ngorongoro crater to gazette the Ngorongoro conservation area in 1975. Since then, every generation has had to resist further evictions. It’s now my generation’s turn,” he says.

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