By Witness Radio Team

The StopEACOP Coalition has issued a warning to shareholders and bondholders of TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), urging them to reconsider their funding of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) due to the companies’ growing self-financing of the project that exposes shareholders and bondholders to gross financial and reputational risks.

In a public statement released alongside its Finance Risk Briefing Update No. 6, the coalition revealed that the two energy giants have quietly decided to increase their financial commitments to the $5.6 billion pipeline, stepping in as lenders to their own project. This move reflects the collapse of external financing for EACOP amid widespread rejection by international banks and insurers due to the project’s environmental, human rights, and climate risks. These risks include environmental, human rights concerns, and climate-related issues.

According to EACOP Limited’s 2024 annual report, TotalEnergies and CNOOC have provided additional facilities through shareholder loans to fund what remains of the construction budget.

Initially projected to cost up to $3.5 billion and intended to be financed with 40% equity and 60% debt, the project’s cost has since increased to a whopping $5.6 billion. The two companies have already injected roughly $2.8 billion in equity and secured around $755 million in external loans, leaving a debt gap of approximately $2 billion. Currently, TotalEnergies and CNOOC are moving to cover that shortfall themselves, bringing their total funding to about $4.8 billion, or 86% of the project’s total cost, more than triple what they had initially planned to use.

“This is a shocking example of developers financing their own controversial project after being rejected by global financial institutions. It shows that the EACOP is no longer financially viable without corporate self-funding and that investors in these companies are now directly financing one of the most destructive fossil fuel projects in the world,” Reads part of the statement.

The coalition argues that by turning inward for financing, TotalEnergies and CNOOC have transferred financial, legal, and reputational risks to their own shareholders and bondholders.

“Now, to keep the project alive, TotalEnergies and CNOOC are turning inward, relying on their own balance sheets and, by extension, your capital. The situation increases your financial risk, deepens your exposure to the project’s growing controversy, and links your investment portfolios even more directly to the environmental destruction, human rights abuses, and climate chaos that EACOP represents,” the statement says.

“This means that institutional investors holding TotalEnergies or CNOOC securities are now directly linked to the project’s growing controversies, from land grabs and community displacement to the threat it poses to climate goals.”

EACOP is a 1,443-kilometer pipeline stretching from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to the Tanzanian coast, which has faced heavy opposition since its inception. This opposition is due to threats to biodiversity and the environment, as well as to people’s displacement among others.

It is from this that the STOPEACOP coalition is calling for active engagement with TotalEnergies and CNOOC to jointly address human rights and environmental risks and identify a time-bound escalation strategy, where investors publicly set deadlines for the companies to act, backed by credible consequences such as voting against board members or divesting from the companies altogether.

“We are therefore calling upon the shareholders and bondholders of TotalEnergies and CNOOC to act with integrity and foresight, in line with their responsibilities under the UNGPs and the OECD Guidelines, to avoid contributing to severe human rights and environmental impacts associated with the operations of your portfolio companies,” reads the statement.

In the last three years, over 20 major banks and 23 insurers have publicly ruled out support for the EACOP project, citing misalignment with global climate targets and reputational concerns.

The Finance Risk Briefing shows that 43 banks have ruled out financing for the 1,443 km pipeline since the project began.

Governments and international organizations have also faced mounting pressure to intervene, as civil society movements in Uganda, Tanzania, and abroad intensify opposition to its implementation due to its adverse effects.

The Ministry of Water and Environment is under scrutiny over alleged illegal procurement of a 70.2-acre piece of land in Kihanda Sub-County, Kanungu District.

According to a petition dated October 10, 2025, submitted to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Christine Joy Tusiime accuses officials from the ministry of land grabbing, abuse of office, and criminal conduct. The land in question is her ancestral property located in Ibarya Cell, Kihanda Parish.

Tusiime claims that in August 2023, the government, through the Ministry of Water and Environment, entered into a purported land acquisition and compensation agreement with her for the family land. However, she insists that the transaction was done irregularly and without her informed consent. She further alleges that the land was under a caveat at the time, and that no official land valuation, boundary opening, or legal procedures were followed before compensation and takeover.

The Ministry of Water and Environment is jointly accused with several officials including Hajj Shafik Sekandi (former RDC of Kanungu, now RDC of Kisoro), Amanyire Ambrose Mwesigye (current RDC of Kanungu), his deputy Gad Rugajju, and GISO Ambrose Barigye. Also implicated are local leaders: Jessica Tindimwebwa (LC I Chairperson – Ibarya Cell), Davis Asiimwe (LC III Chairperson Kihanda Sub-County), and Lemegio Tumwesigye (LC II Chairperson – Kihanda Parish).

Tusiime alleges that these officials colluded to demarcate the family land into smaller plots for personal gain, disguised as government compensation. In her words, “To our disbelief, these individuals in government offices demarcated our ancestral land into plots, which they shared among themselves to access and grab money through the Ministry of Water and Environment’s purported compensation.”

She also claims that on October 3, 2025, RDC Mwesigye led a group that stormed their ancestral home, demolishing the house and toilet. Tusiime states that these individuals, using their positions in government, forcibly occupied and destroyed family property including homes, crops, and graveyards without following legal procedures. She further alleges that the accused exhumed bodies of their deceased siblings and took them to an unknown location without the family’s knowledge or consent.

A document reportedly in the possession of the family shows that a Ministry official, identified as Paul Nuwagira—a sociologist—wrote on the land title indicating it had been received for mutation and transfer. The note reads: “Original duplicate title received for purposes of mutation and transfer to the government of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Water and Environment after consent to compensation was reached between vendors and government.”

In a March 18, 2025, letter to the Ministry, Tusiime expressed strong opposition to the transaction, raising issues such as lack of a valuation report, absence of a proper boundary survey, inadequate compensation, harassment, intimidation, and overall fraudulent conduct. Through her lawyers, she pointed out that neither she nor her elder sister had legal capacity to transact over the land. She also noted that the government had failed to issue a certificate of title for the residue land where her family was supposed to be resettled or relocate their ancestral burial grounds.

Tusiime claims the government is proceeding with the development project on the disputed land, despite failing to meet its obligations under the so-called agreement. She alleges that government officials have since taken over the land, destroyed property, and issued threats—with the support of RDC Mwesigye, his deputy Rugajju, and local police.

In an interview, Tusiime said the dispute traces back to 2004 following the death of her mother, when her sister took possession of the family land. She said this triggered a series of actions by local officials aimed at displacing her and destroying her interests. “The RDC then did a report, and from that time, they began targeting us—destroying plantations and allowing others to use the land to undermine us,” she said tearfully.

Due to continued threats and property destruction, Tusiime fled Uganda in 2023 and now lives in the United Kingdom. She maintains that the government must lawfully purchase the land and not rely on what she describes as fraudulent compensation efforts. She further alleges that RDC Mwesigye and his deputy Rugajju are now profiting from the land through activities like charcoal burning and have destroyed their house. Her appeals to the police, she says, were ignored.

She added: “I am humbly appealing to the President to intervene in this matter and rescue me from these notorious criminals pretending to work for the government.”

Tusiime also claims that her attempt to open boundaries and prove the extent of land grabbing was blocked by authorities. She accuses lawyers from Mark Mwesigye Advocates of playing a role in alleged forgery and land fraud related to her property in Ibarya Cell, Kanungu.

RDC Amanyire Ambrose Mwesigye denied any wrongdoing. He said he held meetings involving both parties and advised them to approach the Administrator General. He acknowledged that the land was part of a government irrigation project and said that several families were consulted in 2022, and valuation exercises were conducted in 2023. “Their family was among those consulted. They consented, and they were paid Shs1 billion, which was shared between Christine and her sister. The houses that were demolished are those earmarked for removal to pave way for the project,” he said.

When contacted, Paul Nuwagira, the sociologist from the ministry who handled part of the process, maintained that he acted on behalf of the Ministry. “Whatever I did was under the mandate of the Ministry of Water and Environment. If there is any complaint, it should be addressed to the ministry leadership—not to me personally,” he said. “There are proper channels for handling these matters, and people should stop addressing ministry issues to individuals.”

Despite repeated attempts, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Environment, Dr. Alfred Okot Okidi, was not available for comment.

Tusiime continues to demand a full investigation into the matter, arguing that her family was defrauded and violently displaced from their land by individuals misusing government institutions.

Source: ankoletimes.co.ug