"Eala criticises oil pipeline opponents"

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has strongly castigated opponents of the Hoima-Tanga crude oil pipeline. The civil society groups, in particular,came under fire for agitating against the project expected to bring much goodies to the region. Lawmakers from Tanzania and Uganda led to fray, playing down claims of environmental hazards the pipeline 1,443 km would allegedly pose... “Has the project passed the environmental test? The answer is yes. Have we planned mitigation measures put in place just in case? The answer is yes. “Then what is the fuss all about?”, asked George Odongo from Uganda, saying the project could not have been approved without the requisite environmental tests...

Ms Suzan Nakauki and Paul Musamali (both from Uganda) said activists fighting the project from abroad owed the East African people an apology. Ms Mary Mugyenyi (Uganda) said her country and Tanzania were united against the critics of EACOP and would go ahead with its implementation. “We should also identify their local collaborators and crush them”, they said, noting that exploitation of any petroleum product “must have a carbon footprint.”