Abstract
In this chapter, we explore the ways in which collective awareness of possibilities to act in the face of social and environmental justice became activated in a community in Uganda. We concentrate on community participants’ joint reflections around the operations of a foreign-owned factory that was set up in Koch Goma Subcounty, Nwoya District in northern Uganda. The factory was set up for the agroprocessing of fresh cassava to produce denatured alcohol that could be used for cooking and lighting purposes. In principle, the (constructive) idea as mooted to the locals was that the company would contribute to the local economy in various ways, for example, by employing workers in the processing factory and by paying local farmers to produce the needed cassava. However, our research – based on the facilitation of four focus groups in the area – concluded that the modus operandi of the factory turned out in the main to be a source of anguish to the locals. Their experiences, as reflected upon in their community meetings and further discussed in our focus group fora, have demonstrated that the unregulated operation of foreign owned investments can become a major source of poverty, economic disempowerment, and public health concern. The chapter focuses on some of the ways in which community participants developed a sense of collective agency to draw the attention of the district leadership and national environmental protection agencies to the disruptive effects of this factory as well as a foreign-owned road construction company and how this panned out to date.
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Notes
- 1.
In the case of Uganda, further to the 2021 elections, President Museveni and his main opponent (Hon. Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi) disagree on the role of foreign governments in domestic affairs. While in the 1990s and early 2000s there were understandings between President Museveni and the USA, who appreciated, inter alia, his market-friendly policies, after 2021 the relations have shifted; the USA is threating sanctions due to the way the 2021 elections were conducted. Hon. Kyagulanyi has suggested to Aljazeera that “General Museveni is showing the world that one can be a dictator but still be accepted by the world’s leading democracy [the USA].” Kyagulanyi is requesting the USA to follow through its threats (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/4/us-threatens-sanctions-against-ugandan-leader).
- 2.
From the discussion with the villagers it transpired that originally the factory had agreed verbally with the villagers that an acre of cassava would be bought at the price of 8 million shillings (about 2200 USD) and the factory would be responsible for uprooting and transporting the fresh cassava to their facility for processing: every farmer would have his/her cassava bought straight from the garden. However, when the cassava was ready, Bukona told the villagers that they would only buy dry cassava (the original verbal agreement was that cassava would be bought fresh from the gardens) and they set the prices for each kilogram of dry cassava @ 400 shs (the original verbal agreement was that an acre of cassava would be bought @ 8 million shillings). They also said for each subsistence farmer to qualify, s/he must bring a minimum of one ton (1000 kg) of dry cassava – (this was not part of the verbal agreement). When the villagers failed to meet their minimum requirement, Bukona started buying dry cassava from other districts.
- 3.
When Francis presented the written report to the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) and discussed it with her, she acknowledged that some of the issues raised by the villagers during the FGDs were true. Specifically, she mentioned sexual exploitation of the young ladies, environmental pollution, and low pay for local staff which she said had reached her desk. She expressed her view that the CEO of the factory was a “nice and responsible” person who may not even know that the exploitation was happening. She then said, “with this well-written report from you, I will now arrange to meet with the CEO and present the report to him”. Francis was unable to arrange that she would invite him too to the meeting, but he did arrange to speak to a local diplomat running for parliament at the time, who was very interested in the case. Further to the dissemination workshop held with participants about 2 months later, he learned that the diplomat with whom he had spoken earlier was from a neighboring constituency. So, he arranged and met with the MP elect of the study context. He also called the diplomat (now MP elect for the neighboring constituency) when he was with the workshop participants. This diplomat assured him that he would work closely with the MP from the study district to ensure that concerns of the locals were addressed.
- 4.
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The production of this manuscript was made possible through the financial support provided by the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Kabale University (KAB).
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Akena Adyanga, F., Romm, N. (2022). Collective Action for Regeneration of the Web of Life in the Face of Disruptive Injustice. In: McIntyre-Mills, J.J., Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (eds) Transformative Education for Regeneration and Wellbeing. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3258-8_5
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