Hoima, Uganda – For over a decade, their voices have echoed through petitions, protests and unanswered court files. Today, May 21, 2025, the long-awaited cry for justice by the people displaced by Uganda’s oil refinery project finally reached the courtroom.
In what many are calling a historic moment for land justice in Uganda, 11 oil refinery-affected persons (PAPs) representing more than 7,000 victims appeared at Hoima High Court to challenge the Government of Uganda over what they term as delayed, unfair and inadequate compensation. The hearing is presided over by Justice Vincent Opyene.
The case has been pending since 2014 supported by the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and has now become a symbol of the struggle between state-led development and citizens’ constitutional rights.
The controversy dates back to 2012 when the government began acquiring land for Uganda’s first oil refinery in Kabaale Sub-County, Hoima District. By 2014, residents had been evicted yet many were left without fair compensation. Some were relocated others not. Their land was taken, their homes flattened and their lives changed forever.
An Auditor General’s report in 2017 revealed damning findings of over 14% of the PAPs had not been compensated by February 2018 violating their constitutional right to prompt and adequate payment.
“This is not just a legal case. This is about our stolen land, our lost dignity and our stolen decade,” said Mr. Innocent Tumwebaze, chairperson of the Oil Refinery Residents Association (ORRA). “For more than 10 years, we’ve waited for our voices to be heard.”
The affected residents are not just asking for apologies, they are demanding concrete legal remedies, including a declaration that the government used outdated compensation rates, a ruling that the cut-off dates for land use restrictions were unconstitutional, a declaration that the compensation process violated property and human rights, a directive to establish clear, fair regulations for future compensation processes and an order for the government to pay general damages for emotional, financial and social loss.
“These aren’t just legal technicalities,” said Dickens Kamugisha, CEO of AFIEGO.
“This is about justice delayed becoming justice denied. If government land cases are resolved in days, why do citizens have to wait 11 years?”
The people’s journey through Uganda’s legal system has been marred by frequent adjournments, judge transfers and bureaucratic foot-dragging. Originally filed in Kampala, the case was later transferred to Masindi and then to Hoima each move compounding the victims’ trauma.
In a particularly symbolic moment, in April 2024, frustrated residents held a peaceful protest outside the Hoima court and wrote to top judicial officers demanding their case be heard.
Ironically, just as the court date was set this year, the government proceeded to sign a fresh deal with Alpha MBM Investments LLC on March 29, 2025 to commence refinery construction before the case was even concluded.
Among the plaintiffs is Mama Ajok, a 62-year-old widow who lost her family’s ancestral land and now survives on casual labor.
“My children grew up in that land. Now, we’re squatters,” she shared with tears. “I have nothing to pass on to my grandchildren.”
Such stories are many. Beyond numbers and policy papers are broken families, lost cultures, and psychological scars still bleeding from over a decade of state neglect.
The outcome of this court battle could set a legal precedent for land acquisition, compensation and the limits of state power in Uganda. It will test how far the justice system can stand up for the voiceless in the face of billion-dollar oil projects.
Legal analysts warn that if the courts side with the government without addressing long standing injustices, it could further erode public trust in Uganda’s institutions and trigger broader social unrest in the oil-rich Albertine region.
Today, the people are in court not with violence, not with vengeance but with hope and the Constitution in hand.
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