French oil giant, Total Energies which is leading the oil and gas developments in Uganda has slammed the European Union parliament’s resolution on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) projects as undemocratic.
Total Group chairman, Patrick Pouyanné, also declined to attend a scheduled session at which his response would have been debated yesterday Monday 10, accusing the MPs of not following the procedures that democracy defines.
Pouyanné, instead referred the MPs to a letter he has sent to the EU parliament president Roberta Metsola saying “and as a result, TotalEnergies will not be represented at the hearing organised by the human rights sub-commission on October 10.”
According to the communication, TotalEnergies had expected to be accorded a fair hearing prior to the adoption of the resolution for their side of the situation, but this did not happen. The company insists that all partners in the project are committed to putting environmental and biodiversity issues as well as the rights of the communities concerned at the centre, in accordance with the most stringent international standards.
The European legislators voiced concern that the rights of the people, as well as the environment, were being violated by oil projects especially EACOP. Apart from the ecosystem, the politicians, relying largely on local and global civil society organisations, said people were being evicted without due compensation, while the heated underground pipeline would go through important rivers.
“This project is a major development for Uganda and Tanzania, and we are doing our utmost to ensure that it is exemplary in terms of transparency, shared prosperity, economic and social progress, sustainable development and protecting the environment and human rights,” said the letter to Metsola.
Pouyanné wondered how the parliament passed “in just forty-eight hours, a resolution denouncing human rights abuses supposedly connected to the project to develop subsurface resources in Uganda, linked to infrastructure through Tanzania, led by TotalEnergies.”
In the letter, the chairman accuses the parliament of not being independent in its opinions, which could also affect hundreds of employees, without giving them the chance to be heard.
“I very much regret that the Company and, by extension, its 105,000 employees should be publicly accused in this way by your institution, without being approached at any point for a prior adversarial discussion.
“I cannot help but feel that your assembly should reach its opinions on subjects that it is free to select itself completely independently. It seems to me that, in this case, the adversarial principle on which the rule of law is based has not been respected in any way whatsoever,” says Pouyanné.
The MPs called for a delay of the EACOP for at least one year for the shareholders to find an alternative route they think would be less harmful. However, Pouyanné says their views were not based on facts on the ground.
“And I consider that the parliament’s adoption of resolutions containing factual inexactitudes, and statements based on unfounded allegations, some serious, to be most damaging. To cite just one example, if we had been asked for explanations, we would have been able to inform the parliament that the project does not raise the “risk”, and even less an “imminent” one of the displacement of 100,000 people,” he said.
According to TotalEnergies, 723 households, consisting of about 5,000 people, will be resettled nearby in better quality housing, while other people whose farmlands have been covered by the project have been adequately considered in the compensation procedure.
He says that the subcommittee on human rights invited him after the resolution had already been taken, to express himself for a duration of “eight minutes”, according to the terms of the invitation, which he said was irrelevant. This, according to him, does not in any way correct the situation created by this deliberation, because the adversarial principle cannot apply backwards.
“You will understand that I do not intend to accept the invitation under these circumstances. Please accept, madam, the assurance of my highest consideration,” Pouyanné’s letter to the president of the parliament said.
Total’s rancour comes just a day after Uganda President Yoweri Museveni on independence day celebrations further slammed the European MPs of imperialism on African development.
“East Africans therefore, should not worry that those arrogant people can stop the oil project in East Africa. If any actor tries to delay our project, we shall decisively deal with that betrayal according to the relevant laws,” he said.
President Hussein Ali Mwinyi of Zanzibar also gave a word of encouragement to the governments of Uganda and Tanzania on the EACOP project.
“Tanzania and Uganda should not be deterred by any condemnation made against the project which are based on misinformation,” said Mwinyi.
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