Oil drawing criminals - Hoima mayor
What you need to know:
Crime. Revelations made during a district leaders’ meeting, showed that crime rate had risen in the district, with many taking advantage of the upcoming oil exploration.
The Hoima mayor has revealed that a number of people including sex workers, land grabbers and hooligans have flocked the town to tap into “opportunities” when oil exploration starts.
Addressing a two-day dialogue in Mukono Town on Tuesday, Ms Grace Mary Mugasa, said the new entrants spent all day gambling, drinking and smoking.
The dialogue was organised to discuss oil and gas development, public finance management and accountability reforms.
Ms Mugasa noted that prostitution had led to broken homes and threats of an upsurge of HIV/Aids. “Turkish workers on the road improvement project are sex hungry and they lure young girls and married women into sex in exchange for huge sums of money,” she said.
Studies have shown that most oil producing countries in Africa suffer problems of prostitution and increased rates of crime.
Hoima was chosen by the government as the model town in the Albertine region to house the first oil refinery.
The Rukungiri Resident District Commissioner, Ms Ida Bikorwenda, said many people had turned into idlers, which had escalated crime.
“The government cannot relax when Hoima has turned into a town for prostitutes, robbers and drug users. More children are likely to desert school and join hooliganism,” Ms Bikorwenda said.
Participants agreed that they had a role to play in clearing speculations and expectations from the oil exploitation by becoming more transparent.
They also agreed that unless they stood up and resisted the negative forces targeting oil, it would become a curse, especially to those intending to misuse proceeds.
Among the people who attended the meeting organised by Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment and the Uganda Local Government Association, included LC5 chairpersons, chief administrative officers, chief finance officers, district technical staff and NGO representatives from the 25 oil districts.
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