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EACJ’s Appellate Court will hear an appeal on the dismissed Case against EACOP development.

Published

6 months ago

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By Witness Radio team.

The appeal against the dismissal of a lower court case, filed by four East African civil societies seeking compliance with the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) with regional and international human rights standards, is scheduled to be heard today, November 15, 2024, by the Appellate Court of the East Africa Court of Justice. The Appellate Court is the higher court that reviews decisions made by lower courts, and in this Case, it will review the decision of the EACJ’s First Instance Division that dismissed the Case.

The appeal case was filed against the Attorney Generals of Uganda and Tanzania and the East African Community Secretary General (EAC).

The appeal is based on case Reference No. 39 of 2020, which was filed in November 2020 by the Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT), Natural Justice (NJ), Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), and Center for Strategic Litigation (CSL) from Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. The Case asked the EACJ lower court to issue temporary and permanent injunctions to halt the development of the EACOP.

The organizations claimed that the EACOP violates key East African and international treaties and laws, including the East African Community (EAC) Treaty, Protocol for Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria basin, Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Others include the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the African Convention on Conservation of Natural Resources.

The EACOP has been designed, constructed, financed, and operated through a dedicated Pipeline Company with the same name. The shareholders in EACOP are affiliates of the three upstream joint venture partners: the Uganda National Oil Company (8%), TotalEnergies E&P Uganda (62%), and CNOOC Uganda Ltd (15%), together with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (15%).

The 1,443km pipeline will eventually transport Uganda’s crude oil from Kabaale—Hoima to the Chongoleani peninsula near Tanga Port in Tanzania.

Climate activists and civil society organizations, however, have opposed the project, claiming that it will harm several fragile and protected habitats irreversibly and violate key agreements and treaties. Furthermore, the project has been linked to several human rights violations, such as land grabs and the imprisonment of project critics.

On November 29, 2023, the EACJ dismissed the Case. The court ruled that the applicants filed the petition out of time, stating that the petitioners should have filed the petition as early as 2017 instead of 2020. The court also ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the Case, meaning it did not have the legal authority to make a decision on this particular matter. These rulings were based on the court’s interpretation of the EAC Treaty and procedural law.

Undeterred by the dismissal of the Case, on December 13, 2023, the four CSOs demonstrated their unwavering commitment to justice by filing an appeal at the East African Court of Justice’s (EACJ) Appellate Division.

Their appeal is meticulously based on the grounds that the court case was timely, given that the applicants (CSOs) became aware of the signing of the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on October 26, 2020, and filed the Case on November 6, 2020, just ten days after gaining knowledge of the IGA.

They argue that the First Instance Division erred in interpreting Article 30 of the EAC Treaty and misapplied procedural law. The CSOs, with their legal expertise, assert that article 30 of the EAC Treaty sets a two-month limitation period for filing cases at the EACJ, starting from the enactment, publication, directive, decision, or action being contested, or, in its absence, from the day it came to the knowledge of the complainant.

The appellants also contend that the court should have recognized that their statement of reference was based on 12 grounds, with only two being challenged by the respondents. They argue that the court should have preserved and heard the remaining ten grounds, even if the preliminary objections on the two were upheld. Furthermore, they assert that the court misinterpreted the evidence, as the affidavits relied upon in resolving the preliminary objections constituted valid evidence, which they argue is a violation of the law on preliminary objections, among other issues.”

In their appeal, which will be heard today, the CSOs ask the Appellate Court to overturn the First Instance Division’s decision to dismiss their EACOP case, return the Case to the First Instance Division for a merits hearing, and return the Case to the First Instance Division for a trial of the remaining aspects for which the governments of Tanzania and Uganda did not raise any preliminary objections.

They also want the First Instance Division’s decision to overturn the awarding of costs decision to the Tanzanian and Ugandan governments and the EAC Secretary General.

Related posts:

Appellate Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) to hear an Appeal filed by CSOs which seeks to reinstate a petition against the construction of the EACOP project tomorrow. The Appellate East African Court of Justice sets timelines for hearing an appeal against the construction of the EACOP. The East Africa regional court dismisses a case challenging the construction of the EACOP project. EACJ TO GIVE A RULING ON THE PRELIMINARY OBJECTIONS RAISED IN THE EACOP CASE East African Court of Justice is to decide whether it has jurisdiction to try the EACOP case filed by Four East African NGOs today.
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Over 1,000 residents in Uganda’s lost village at risk of extreme hunger

Published

7 days ago

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May 2, 2025

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What you need to know:

 In January, a joint team of soldiers and police evicted more than 400 local people who had been occupying part of the 64 square kilometre Maruzi ranch in Apac District. The most affected were actually residents of Acam-cabu Village.

Acam-cabu Village is no longer a recognised administrative unit in northern Uganda’s Apac District after it was erased from the map of Uganda following a land dispute.

 Since this area is now excluded from the list of existing villages in the country, a total of 1,040 people living in 180 households there cannot now benefit from any government programmes and projects.

 Mr Bosco Wacha, the LCI chairman of Acam-cabu, said the village disappeared from the map of Uganda around 2018.
“Since 2018, I have not been getting my salary and the people who have been isolated because of this confusion are suffering,” Mr Wacha said on the phone on Thursday, May 1, 2025.

 He also said all the households in the lost village are at risk of extreme hunger and starvation because the government has stopped them from engaging in any farming or economic activities.

“There is a severe shortage of food here because we have been stopped from farming. We are not able now to take our children to school and we lack access to healthcare,” said Mr Joe Olwock, the area chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

Mr Felix Odongo Ococ, Akokoro LC3 chairman, said that although the government doesn’t recognise Acam-cabu as a village in Uganda, during the National Population and Housing Census, 2024, enumerators went and counted people there.

Data obtained from the local leadership of this isolated administrative unit shows that there are 180 households in Acam-cabu. Of these, at least 14 households have one member each and eight households have eight members.

 However, a household regarded as number eight in the document that was reportedly sent to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has the highest membership, standing at 11 people. This household is followed by number 158, which has 10 members, and household number eight has a total of nine members.

Dr Kenneth Omona, the Minister of Northern Uganda, previously said he would meet the leadership of Apac to try to iron out all issues affecting the community in the district.
In January, a joint team of soldiers and police evicted more than 400 local people who had been occupying part of the 64 square kilometre Maruzi ranch in Apac District. The most affected were actually residents of Acam-cabu Village.

The squatters, numbering over 1,500 occupied the said land around 1995. They had repeatedly ignored various eviction notices, saying the land belongs to their fore grandfathers.

In September 2015, the High Court in Lira issued an interim order blocking Apac District leadership from evicting the affected residents. The district then resorted to using the army and police to evict the squatters.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has established a military detachment to man security of the area.

Source: Monitor.

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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

EU: Palm oil lobbyists allegedly are trying to “undo” deforestation law, incl. granting “smallholder” exemptions, raising concerns for Indonesian rainforests

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1 week ago

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April 30, 2025

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“Palm oil lobbyists water down Europe’s anti-deforestation law”

The European Union made waves when it passed the landmark EUDR “zero deforestation” law in 2023. Unfortunately, multinationals are already trying to undo it.

The new law is an attempt to keep deforestation-linked products out of Europe, but palm oil lobbyists are fighting back, saying its monitoring and tracing requirements could financially harm small farmers.

In part due to these concerns, the EU is giving all importers until 2026 to get up to speed on compliance. But now, lobbyists are pushing the EU to grant smallholders exemptions from the EUDR—a potential death knell for some of Indonesia’s last standing rainforests.

The term “smallholder” is very ambiguous in Indonesia. Some smallholders run impoverished family farms. Others are local elites who abuse their influence to create mini corporate plantations in protected areas, a growing problem for the orangutan capital of the world.

Those elites are a major source of deforestation in Indonesia, but lobbyists want to have the EU pre-label entire geographic regions as being at “minimal risk” for smallholder deforestation, essentially giving them a pass on EUDR requirements.

…the EU … shouldn’t create major loopholes for small, rogue operators. Instead, it should help smallholders reach full compliance…

Original Source:www.ran.org Via  Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

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80-year-old widow evicted from her land, detained for five months on trespass charges

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2 weeks ago

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April 26, 2025

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Ms Elivaida Mugala (C) and her children pose next to the grave of her husband on disputed piece of land in Nawaka village, Ikumbya Sub-county in Luuka District. PHOTO/DENIS EDEMA.

Ms Elivaida Mugala, a resident of Nawaka village, Ikumbya Sub-county in Luuka District, Eastern Uganda, is fighting to reclaim her 36-acre piece of land allegedly stolen by a grabber who accused her of trespass, yet she has lived on it for five decades.
Armed with what Ms Mugala believes are forged documents and backed by some local authorities, the alleged land grabber, Mr Fred Bahati, has left the 80-year-old widow and her family frustrated and helpless.
Her neighbours and other community members are also outraged and now worried that their land could be targeted next.

 Neighbours who witnessed her eviction described the scene as chaotic and traumatising to watch after the suspected grabber allegedly hired police and suspected goons to eject the elderly Ms Mugala from the peoperty she inherited from her late husband,  Yowasi Kintu who died in 2022.

“Mr Bahati took advantage of our vulnerability after my husband’s death. He used his power and influence to forge documents to claim ownership of my land. But I won’t back down. I’ll fight for justice, no matter what it takes,’’ Ms Mugala vowed.

A maize garden in front of one of the houses that belonged to Ms Elivaida Mugala

Ms Mugala recounted eviction experience, saying: “When I resisted the forceful eviction from the land we’ve occupied since the 1970s, I was accused of trespassing on my own land and home. I was arrested along with my grandchildren and daughter, and we were imprisoned in Iganga for five months without clear charges or legal representation.’’
“He came with an army of security personnel, threatening us with firearms and intimidating our entire community. His hired thugs destroyed my home and crops, then accused me and my grandchildren of causing the damage. At my age, what energy do I have to inflict such harm?” Ms Mugala recounted.

“It’s a grave injustice, and I demand accountability. It’s clear that some local leaders are colluding with the grabber. They’re taking advantage of the family’s vulnerability, but the community won’t stand for it. We’re calling on district leaders to intervene and bring justice to this elderly woman,” Defence Secretary of Nawaka B Village, Mr Francis Balwaine said.
According to Mr Balwaine no leader has visited to investigate, nor police picked interest in investing this case.
“It’s clear that the lack of action is due to the family’s inability to bribe their way to justice. This injustice will have consequences, and it will likely cost the ruling party votes,’’ he added.

When this reporter visited the scene, Ms Mugala’s two-roomed house was found damaged, with windows shattered and doors plucked out.

The trees she had planted around the home were also cut down.

Ms Mugala showed us a maize garden prepared by the suspected land grabber during the five months she was reportedly detained by police no clear charge.

Mr Christopher Matindo, a 76-year-old retired teacher and current information secretary of Nawaka Parish, who shares a boundary with Ms Mugala, said he was worried he could be the next target for the land grabbers.

“Mr Bahati hasn’t lived around here since he was a child. What basis does he have for claiming ownership of this land?’’ Mr Matindo wondered.

Mr Matindo revealed that his land is adjacent to the disputed piece of land, making him a concerned neighbor.
“I’m worried that if they succeed in grabbing Ms Mugala’s land, mine could be next. What’s more troubling is the silence from local leaders. Why are they quiet on this matter?’’ he wondered.

One of Ms Mugala’s sons, Mr Moses Nsandha, 37, said they have sought help from various offices, including the police, but they have not been helped.

“It’s like the land grabber has bought off the entire Luuka district leadership, leaving us with nowhere to turn,’’ he alleged.

“We’ve been loyal NRM voters for decades, but this incident has opened our eyes to see the reality. If this is how they repay us – by enabling grabbers to steal from the vulnerable – then they shouldn’t expect our votes again if there is no justice for the old woman,’’ said Mr Godfrey Mulwa, Councilor for Nawaka Parish.
When contacted, Mr Bahati said the case was in court and denied any involvement in destroying the elderly woman’s property.
He claimed that he purchased the land through the rightful channels, arguing that the house he demolished was his workers’ quarters on his property.

Mr Bahati claimed he’s in possession of genuine documents proving his ownership of the land, which he said spans between 8-10 acres.

He dismissed Ms Mugala’s claim that the disputed land measures 36 acres, arguing that she exaggerated it.

According to the district Police Commander, Mr Moses Akena, land fights are increasingly becoming a challenge in Luuka.

 

A house belonging to the daughter of Ms  Mugala, which was destroyed by a suspected land grabber in Luuka district.PHOTO/ ENIS EDEMA.

“A common scenario is when family members, particularly brothers, grab property from widows or orphans after the death of the family head,’’ he said.
Mr Akena acknowledged a high level of moral decay in the community, contributing to the rise in land disputes.
However, he noted that the police are collaborating with Redeem International, an NGO that advocates for widows’ and orphans’ rights. Through this partnership, they’re working to restore grabbed property to its rightful owners through court proceedings.

Police have over time been accused of enabling land grabbing through corruption.
Mr Hassan Ssembarirwa, Deputy Resident Commissioner of Luuka, said Ms Mugala, whose land is allegedly being grabbed by Mr Bahati, is currently before the RDC’s office.
He noted that Mr Bahati has filed five cases against Ms Mugala in different courts.
Ironically, Mr Ssembarirwa revealed that Redeem International, an organisation dedicated to protecting the property rights of widows and orphans, is handling Ms Mugala’s case in court with the support of the RDC’s office. Their goal is to ensure the elderly woman regains her land.

“The police forensic investigations indicated that he had forged agreement documents and the matter is before the court, being followed up by Redeem International and the office of the RDC to ensure the old woman gets justice,’’ Mr Ssembarirwa said seemingly affirming that the responsible government officials have folded their hands instead of helping Ms Ms Mugala who also claim to be a longtime supporter of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) which has been I power for nearly four decades.

Ms Damalie Nyafwono, a lawyer with the NGO, said her team had successfully secured bail for three individuals accused in a land dispute case filed by Mr Bahati at Kiyunga Magistrate Court in Luuka.

“Mr Bahati has filed multiple cases against Ms Magala in different courts in Iganga. It’s clear he’s trying to harass and intimidate her. But we’re prepared to fight her case in every forum until she gets justice,’’ the lawyer said.

Corruption among public servants and land grabbing have become a common and permanent feature in almost every part of the country, with the most vulnerable being women and ordinary/ poor Ugandans who cannot bribe their way to get justice.
Police said in their latest annual crime report that a total of 397 cases of land-related crimes were reported in 2024, compared to 271 cases reported in 2023, giving a 46.5 per cent increase in the crimes reported under this category.

Source: monitor.co.ug

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