Government have been advised to avoid the past mistakes in the ongoing pipe line compensation process in the 10 districts of Kyotera, Lwengo and others.
Winfred Ngabiirwe, the executive director of Global Rights Alert, has called for transparency in the way government compensates residents for the land.
He says that if the process is called out in a straightforward manner, government will be able to provide much needed social and economic services such as employment, quality health and education, clean water, good roads and many other amenities.
However, worryingly, many people in the area claim they are unaware of when they will be compensated, if at all.
Residents in Lwengo say that they were instructed not to construct new structures on their land or plant crops, if they are to be compensated. They were, unfortunately, not informed when they would be compensated exactly.
This state of affairs, Ngabiirwe says, is preventing people from utilising their land further plunging them into poverty.
The leaders of Kyotera, Lwengo have asked the government to pay for people's land in villages where the oil pipeline is to pass.
Lwengo LC 5 chairman Godfrey Mutabazi says communities in the two districts have been waiting for two years for compensation.
A homeowner in Lwebicuncu village, Lwengo district called Charles Lule has failed to complete construction of his house. He says that he was forced to pause construction because of the guidelines against further development on the land in order to be compensated. The stalled structure is now in danger of collapse.
The oil pipeline is scheduled to pass through part of the house that Lule was constructing.
LC 1 leaders from 30 affected villages say their residents are in desperate need of compensation in order to reorganise their lives.
