A section of Ugandans has lashed out at the government for allowing school children to protest a political matter.
The Uganda National Students Union (UNSA) mobilized various students from primary and secondary schools in Uganda to congregate en masse in protest against the European Union Parliament Resolution on EACOP.
The demonstration held on the 29, of September started at Kololo independence grounds and saw the students clad in their school uniforms march through the streets of Kampala to the European Union offices in Uganda holding placards that read,
“European Union, leave our oil.”
Unlike other protests in the Kampala city center, this one was peaceful. The police force, who usually block protestors were this time peacefully directing traffic and protecting guiding these student protestors all the way to the
EU head office in Kampala where they handed in their petition.
Some Ugandans on social media have expressed their dissatisfaction with the protest saying that children belong in school and not on the streets being used in political protests.
Investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja wrote on his twitter handle;
https://twitter.com/SolomonSerwanjj/status/1575479379077255168
Jennifer Ochwo wrote;
https://twitter.com/JenifaOchwo/status/1575424837736189952
Perry Aritua wrote;
Students were duped into protest they didn’t know
Some of the students say they were reportedly duped into participating in the protest. They claimed that when they arrived in Kololo, instead of meeting the prime minister, they were handed placards and told to march to the EU offices in Kampala.
“They told us that we were going to meet the Prime Minister at Kololo, we did not know that we were going to be engaged in a demonstration,” one of the students told online paper Nile Post.
“When we got to Kololo, we were given soft drinks and told to wait for the Prime Minister, but after a while, they told us that because the Prime Minister was not coming, we should get placards instead and march to the EU offices.”
How it all started
On September 15, 2022, the European Union parliament adopted the resolution condemning human rights violations as well as major environmental and climate risks posed by the King fisher and Tilenga oil wells as well as the East African Crude Oil pipeline which will run through Uganda all the way to the port of Tanga in Tanzania.
This pipeline developed by french company Total Energies, will at completion be the world’s longest heated pipeline and is a joint venture between Total, China, Uganda and Tanzania.
EU Members of Parliament noted that over 100,000 people are being forcibly evicted from their land to make way for the mega oil project.
The European parliament also pointed out that the locals are being denied free use of their land even before receiving compensation from the government making their life difficult.
In the same resolution, the EU also condemned the persecution and intimidation of civil society organizations and human rights defenders who have come up to criticise the project and the acts of the companies in charge saying that several activists have been arbitrarily detained, prompting several UN Special Rapporteurs to issue no less than four joint communications on the subject in the last two years.
Museveni Responds
Earlier this week
President Museveni responded. At a conference in the capital Kampala, a tough speaking president bashed the EU resolution referring to the EU parliament members as egotistical and shallow.
“I spent 12 years studying English and one of the words I picked up in those years is insufferable. Some of these people(EU MPs) are insufferable. You(EU MPs) need to control yourself not to explode.(They are) so shallow, so egocentric and so wrong that they think they know everything broadcasting their ignorance all over the place but they should calm down. This is a wrong battleground for them.” Museveni said.
After the protest the country and the East African community at large waits to see the reaction from the European Union Parliament.
