Oil and Gas Exploration
OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION: INTERROGATING THE OIL COMPANY’S ADHERENCE TO ARTICLE 40 ON COMMUNITY COMPENSATION
Indigenous communities across the globe have been victims of unwarranted exploitation by private investors in the search for among others oil and gas. Whenever governments and oil companies intend to enrich themselves from the oil revenue, history has indicated that voiceless citizens are subjected to inhuman treatment and torture, deprivation of their indigenous community rights, disruption of their once peaceful way of life, destruction of forests and bushes, noise pollution and clearing of community shrines just to name a few. This is despite the undisputed fact that when all this is done, some “primitive individual”, who is supposed to enjoy the protection of the state, is directly or indirectly affected and mitigation measures are not put in place. After the experience of the Niger Delta and whatever happened there, communities have taken a vow to confront their enemies. The drafters of international oil and gas policies, municipal laws and regulations governing the oil and gas sector, in their wisdom and in acting ex abudanti cautella, introduced the concept of community compensation because they foresaw a conflict in the making. However, whether this requirement is often adhered to by oil companies and private investors is another long story. But the question is and always shall be, has the oil company ever tried to put itself in the shoes of these local communities and feel the pinch of eviction from one’s aboriginal land without an iota of compensation? Are oil companies run by human beings who know or ought to know the laws governing oil exploration? I know the answer. The oil process, as my friend keeps on telling me every time I raise this issue with him, is an el classico clash between Mbuta and Omena and that I am the most insane person he knows in Kenya if I expect omena to win the match. But is that the law?
The communities occupying the
Indigenous communities across the globe have been victims of unwarranted exploitation by private investors in the search for among others oil and gas. Whenever governments and oil companies intend to enrich themselves from the oil revenue, history has indicated that voiceless citizens are subjected to inhuman treatment and torture, deprivation of their indigenous community rights, disruption of their once peaceful way of life, destruction of forests and bushes, noise pollution and clearing of community shrines just to name a few. This is despite the undisputed fact that when all this is done, some “primitive individual”, who is supposed to enjoy the protection of the state, is directly or indirectly affected and mitigation measures are not put in place. After the experience of the Niger Delta and whatever happened there, communities have taken a vow to confront their enemies. The drafters of international oil and gas policies, municipal laws and regulations governing the oil and gas sector, in their wisdom and in acting ex abudanti cautella, introduced the concept of community compensation because they foresaw a conflict in the making. However, whether this requirement is often adhered to by oil companies and private investors is another long story. But the question is and always shall be, has the oil company ever tried to put itself in the shoes of these local communities and feel the pinch of eviction from one’s aboriginal land without an iota of compensation? Are oil companies run by human beings who know or ought to know the laws governing oil exploration? I know the answer. The oil process, as my friend keeps on telling me every time I raise this issue with him, is an el classico clash between Mbuta and Omena and that I am the most insane person he knows in Kenya if I expect omena to win the match. But is that the law?
The communities occupying the