…  is a diplomat and politician, despite being “only” a cultural figurehead. He has many leopard skins in his entryway relic room. Suckered into seeing me by an elder adviser whose grazing land will be taken, without adequate compensation, to straighten a road to the oil drilling sites, he greeted me warmly and listed his complaints against oil development as rote, while assuring that ultimately he’ll do whatever Museveni and the local government ask of him.

First and foremost, though, he told me he wanted Tullow to build a hospital for his people so they can seek medical care when the oilfield causes them all to choke and die from the “carbon.”

What? Tullow hasn’t explained to the king of a major population group how the oil extraction works? They haven’t explained mitigation measures for air emissions during flaring? They haven’t told the Banyoro king that no refinery is planned for his kingdom?

The king will have tankers full of crude heading up a steep escarpment on winding, terrible roads — this is more likely to be cataclysmic than air emissions, I suspect (though I could certainly be wrong…).  Information is not being effectively shared.

Author: Kendyl Salcito, executive director, NomoGaia

Kendyl Salcito developed her expertise in human rights and business as a foreign reporter in Southeast Asia and North America. She has advised industry groups on corporate human rights performance and contributed to the development of the UN’s Guidance Principles for Human Rights and Business.