MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Public development banks are a disaster to the Global Development Agendas – activists and CSOs.

Published

8 months ago

September 16, 2024

By Witness Radio team.

September is traditionally a busy time in Uganda’s farming calendar. Farmers are busy weeding their plantations, and cattle keepers rejoice as their grasslands thrive, providing abundant feed for their livestock.

A photo of a burnt grass-thatched house belonging to a community defender in Kiryandongo District.

However, this is different for the community land rights defender Kaliisa Joseph. Instead of enjoying the fruits of his labor, he is now in distress. On September 5th, 2024, Kaliisa’s home was set ablaze, and household items worth more than 1.5 million Ugandan shillings were destroyed. His kraal, which housed over 60 cattle, was also demolished by workers from Agilis Partners, a U.S.-based multinational grain development company in Kiryandongo District.

Joseph Kaliisa, a community land rights in the Kiryandongo district, has been actively engaged in mobilizing his community of more than 3000 residents to push back Agilis Company’s illegal land eviction in the Kiryandondongo district. His home has been repeatedly raided, his crops destroyed, and his animals impounded by the multinational company, which accuses Kaliisa and the people he defends of occupying the land illegally. However, information from Witness Radio indicates that the communities have legal rights to the land.

According to eyewitnesses, these events occurred on Thursday, September 5th, 2024, while Kalisa and his family were away grazing their cattle. Kalisa, who should have been reaping the benefits of his land, now finds himself unable to cultivate or graze freely.

“I can’t use my land as I used to,” Kalisa said. “Whenever I take my cows for grazing, they are seized by the company, and I have to pay 50,000 Ugandan shillings for each cow seized to get it back. Last week, they came and destroyed everything.”

Agilis Partners Limited is receiving multiple financing from different public development banks (PDBs). It has used these funds to displace local communities.

However, whenever the company receives these funds, there is usually a sharp increase in violent land evictions and cattle seizures in Kiryandongo, alongside widespread human rights violations/abuses.

Agilis Partners, owned by U.S. twin brothers Phillip and Benjamin Prinz, has continued to benefit from other funding sources, including the Dutch Oak Tree Foundation, DOB Equity, the United Nations Common Fund for Commodities, the U.K.’s DFID-funded Food Trade Programme, and Vested World.

Kalisa is just one of the millions affected by these public development banks’ (PDBs) funding for companies like Agilis. These communities face illegal evictions, escalating violence, and environmental degradation, all supported by PDBs.

A recent report titled Demystifying Development Finance by 100 Global South activists and civil society experts reveals how PDBs fuel human rights violations, environmental destruction, inequality, and debt in the name of development.

The 52-page report highlights how PDBs, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Inter-American Development Bank, are driving projects that harm people and the planet and are said to be holding a massive amount of countries’ debt based on a series of eye-opening case studies, data, and critical trend analyses.

According to the report, the available official statistics show that the most significant percentage of PDB financing currently goes to financial services, public administration, trade, energy, transportation, and infrastructure. A significantly lower but significant percentage goes to investment in social sectors such as health, education, housing, water and sanitation, and agriculture.

While some PDBs offer grant-based assistance, most financing comes through loans, often at high interest rates. Like Chinese PDBs, these loans sometimes come with shorter repayment periods. Even institutions like the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which offers concessional loans to the lowest-income countries, are criticized for contributing to debt crises in the Global South.

In 2023, during the Finance in Common Summit (FICS), over 35 civil society activists from more than 20 countries came together to challenge the claims of the world’s largest development banks. These banks present themselves as champions in the fight against climate change and poverty, but activists argue that their projects often exacerbate the problems they claim to solve.

“Development banks are advocating for a bigger role in the global economy,” said Ivahanna Larrosa, Regional Coordinator for Latin America at the Coalition for Human Rights in Development. “But are they truly fit for this purpose? Unfortunately, the stories of communities worldwide show us that development banks are failing to address the root causes of the problems they claim to solve. We need to hold them accountable for this.”

The IFC’s involvement in projects like the Sal de Vida lithium mine in Argentina further demonstrates the problem. In the name of renewable energy, the project is displacing Indigenous communities and destroying fragile ecosystems. At the same time, local authorities, including the police and officials, align with the company to silence dissent by threatening and criminalizing local community leaders and the families living near the construction site.

The negative impacts of PDBs extend across the globe. In Kenya, PDBs have pushed for increased health sector privatization, leading to a divide between those who can afford care and those who cannot. Out-of-pocket healthcare spending in Kenya rose by 53% per capita between 2013 and 2018, deepening inequalities and hampering the country’s progress toward universal health coverage.

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

EACOP project triggers floods in Kyotera District.

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2025

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team.

As the detrimental effects of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project intensify, hundreds of Ugandan communities are bearing the brunt of this colossal project. From forced evictions and displacements to the criminalization of project critics and now devastating flash floods, the urgency of addressing these issues is paramount. The suffering of local communities hosting the project has been exacerbated.

In Kyotera District, central Uganda, communities remain stranded as floodwaters rush into their homes and gardens, destroying their food stores and leaving families in despair. Residents attribute the cause of the floods to the ongoing construction activities related to the EACOP project.

Kyotera is one of the 10 districts that the project traverses to the port of Tanga in Tanzania; the others include Hoima, Kikuube, Kakumiro, Kyankwanzi, Gomba, Mubende, Lwengo, Sembabule, and Rakai.

The EACOP project, a 1,444km pipeline that will transport oil from Hoima in Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania, has cast a wide net of impact. It has affected thousands of people, especially in local communities, leading to displacement, destruction of property and crops, and environmental hazards such as floods.

The development of oil activities in Uganda has led to several major projects supporting oil extraction, processing, and export. The proponents of these projects argue that they bring economic development and job opportunities to the region.

These include the EACOP project, the Tilenga Project operated mainly by Total Energies (with partners like CNOOC and UNOC), which covers oil fields located in Buliisa and Nwoya districts, and the Kingfisher Project, which is managed by the Chinese oil company CNOOC and is located on the southeastern shores of Lake Albert (mainly in Kikuube District). It focuses on drilling oil and setting up a central processing facility (CPF), and oil camps and access roads have been constructed to support these operations.

However, these developments have not left the communities the same. Instead of bringing only the promised prosperity, they have contributed to poverty, fear, and uncertainty among the local populations and have exacerbated the climate crisis.

It is also worth noting that activists who stand up to defend these communities face a different kind of suffering: harassment, surveillance, arrests, and even physical attacks. They have been criminalized under vague charges, often labeled as enemies of development for demanding transparency, fair compensation, and environmental protection.

For the communities in Kyotera, the construction of an access road leading to the EACOP camp in the Kyotera district, which serves as a base for project operations, blocked drainage channels, causing water to overflow into the neighboring villages.

The floods, which started last month in April, have now affected seven households in Kyakacwere village, Kakuto Subcounty, Kyotera district.

People’s houses and gardens are flooded, forcing them to look for alternative places to live, and several plantations, such as banana plantations, maize, and beans, among others, continue to be affected. The impacts have already caused dispossession to the affected communities and are likely to cause financial losses and food insecurity for smallholder farmers and their families.

Noeline Nambatya, a 47-year-old mother and a person with disability, shares her traumatic experience of waking up to a flooded house. “This has never happened to us. I found my house full of water in the morning, and several of my household items had already been destroyed. We want justice, we can’t stay in this situation. We were living peacefully, and now, because of the so-called investors, this is what we are reaping.” She revealed in an interview with the Witness Radio team.

The disaster left her home logged, her crops destroyed, and her livelihood distorted. Currently, the caretaker of eight faces immense challenges in providing for her family, including feeding and supporting them in school. The adverse situation forced her and the family to relocate to the nearby village of Muyenga.

Another affected person, Lukyamuze Paul, claims the floods have caused significant damage, including cracking houses and severely destroying crops. He holds the EACOP project responsible for the devastation, stating that when the access road leading to the EACOP camp was constructed, it blocked existing drainage channels, changing the natural water flow into people’s homes.

The environmental concerns arising from EACOP project activities, such as floods, continue to affect different project host communities. The problem was first experienced in Bulisa district in 2022 when Total Energies began the construction of the Tilenga feeder pipeline, resulting in floods that affected surrounding communities.

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Ugandan activist asks HSBC to put ‘lives before profit’ as campaigners target bank’s AGM

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2025

witnessradio.org

Patience Nabukalu, who has experienced climate-related flooding, joins protestors from around the world to deliver a letter to CEO Georges Elhedery criticising the financing of oil, gas and coal projects.

At nine years old, Patience Nabukalu was devastated when her friend, Kevin, died in severe flooding that hit their Kampala suburb, Nateete, a former wetland. Witnessing deaths and the destruction of homes and livelihoods in floods made worse by extreme rainfall has had a profound impact on her.

She decided to try to bring about change – to do what she could to amplify the voices of those in the Ugandan communities worst affected by the climate crisis.

Now 27, Nabukalu is one of several young climate activists who travelled to London this week to attend what has been predicted to be the last in-person AGM held by HSBC. They will deliver a letter to the bank’s CEO, Georges Elhedery, urging him to stop financing the expansion of oil, gas and coal projects and harmful industrial agribusiness, and to stop providing money to companies that forcibly remove people from their homes to make way for such infrastructure.

“This is an opportunity to talk to real people, not just an HSBC office,” said Nabukalu, speaking before the meeting at the Intercontinental hotel. “I will be so happy to get the chance to hand over the letter and to ask: ‘Has HSBC measured the damage they have done by financing corporations that are driving the climate crisis?’”

A woman stands in front of a banner with the London financial district skyline behind her.

Nabukalu in London ahead of the protest. Photograph: Jess Midwinter/Action Aid

The letter refers to a 2023 Action Aid report, which identifies HSBC as “the largest European financier of fossil fuels in the global south”, channelling $63.5bn (£48bn) into fossil fuel activities between 2016 and 2022.

The letter to Elhedery, from young people all over the world, refers to HSBC’s plans, announced earlier this year, to review its commitment to scaling back its financing of fossil fuels.

“This has made something very clear: you value profit margins and boardroom agendas more than the lives of millions of people bearing the full brunt of your decisions,” the letter reads.

Environmentalists criticised HSBC after it delayed key parts of its climate goals by 20 years, and watered down environmental targets in a new long-term bonus plan for Elhedery that could be worth up to 600% of his salary. In February, the lender said it was reviewing its net zero emissions policies and targets – which are split between its own operations and those of the companies it finances – after realising its clients and suppliers had “seen more challenges” in cutting their carbon footprint than expected.

The activists’ letter asks “that you not only stand by your commitments to end your support for the fossil fuel industry in line with what the science requires, but also put an end to all lending and underwriting for corporations involved in fossil fuel expansion”.

Nabukalu will also urge the bank to stop funding corporations that are backing the east African crude oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania. Once constructed, the pipeline would produce an estimated 379m tonnes of CO₂ over 25 years. The main backers of the multimillion-dollar pipeline are the French oil company TotalEnergies and the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

Nabukalu, who has visited people living along the proposed route, said: “This pipeline is already causing damage even before its construction. Thousands and thousands of people have been displaced. They were promised land titles, but have none. Their livelihoods have been sabotaged. They cannot build agriculture, the water table is low, so they have little access to water.

“These people should be at the centre of the bank’s decisions.”

“We will talk to HSBC and ask them to stop financing fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis,” said Nabukalu. “By continuing to finance TotalEnergies they are destroying our future.”

A report published in April found that those displaced along the pipeline’s proposed route had reported being inadequately compensated and rehoused.

Some western banks have declined to fund it after pressure from a coalition of organisations and community groups.

A spokesperson for HSBC said: “We follow a clear set of sustainability risk policies which support our ambition to align the financed emissions in our portfolio to net zero by 2050. We do not comment on client relationships.”

Source: The Guardian.

MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Over 1,000 residents in Uganda’s lost village at risk of extreme hunger

Published

2 weeks ago

May 2, 2025

witnessradio.org

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.