Kabale Subcounty Uganda, Kabale Subcounty A large petrochemical complex forces thousands to relocate, with too little compensation to find equivalent homes and land. Overview Uganda is one of the sub-saharan countries to recently start oil extraction. To set up the petrochemical industrial park, the government of Uganda acquired 2,957 hectares of land in Kabale. The petrochemical industrial park is to include Uganda’s second international airport, The East Africa Crude Oil export pipeline hub, an oil refinery, warehousing facilities and logistics, polymer and fertilizer industries as well as agro-processing plants. Among the 13 villages affected are Kyapaloni, Kigaaga B, Kabale A and Kabale B, all in Kabale Subcounty.

The resettlement action plan conducted in 2014 affected 7,118 people who had to been compensated for the acquisition of their land. Those that asked for relocation or rejected the offered compensation were left to languish in ghost villages, and suffered food shortages with little or no access to clean water, schools and health care services. Many other households who opted for cash compensation realized that it was insufficient to purchase land equivalent to what they had given up for the petrochemical industrial park.
Kabale Subcounty, Uganda Abandoned Home 01 02 Abandoned home in Kikube Village The owners abandoned the house after being given the compensation money. People owned houses prior to the resettlement program. But after the cash resettlement most people were unable to rebuild their houses. Ronald Nkasibwe, speaks of the difficulties faced by the communities when asked to relocate.
Kiran Sangar Corn Planting 01 02 Abraham Akankwasa tends to his field of corn. Abraham Akankwasa says that the oil production activities affect crops. Kiran Sangar Refinery Geoffrey Twesige Geoffrey Twesige says that life was better before the arrival of the refinery.
 Action Message from the community: “Despite the difficulties, restrictions and threats of arrest encountered we are happy to have produced what we did. All this happened because we were filming a restricted and guarded area, at some points we were denied a path into other villages. The army was everywhere in the bushes and we could not go ahead to film in many areas of the Kabale Petrochemical District.” Share on Facebook Shot on location with the help of End Plastic Pollution. Learn more on their website. Explore Next Location Share on Twitter Take Action About Toxic Tours Languages menu Toxic Tours Take Action About Languages