Hate has been found taking centre stage among Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and coalitions in Bunyoro region, according to Directors and Chief Executive Officers.
Such abhorrence has raised concerns among CSO architects revealing that it has impinged on their funding and the intended sensitisation and awareness campaigns for people in Bunyoro to know how they can benefit from oil and gas whose vast deposits were discovered in the Albertine Graben.
Mr Phinehas Kyotasoboire, the Executive Director of Bunyoro Choice Uganda says some coalitions have on several occasions been found mudslinging member organisations before donors yet they all serve a common purpose of creating mass awareness and sensitisation as their set goals.
He says the extreme dislike emanates from an organisation’s success stories; which does not go down well with others who ultimately blackmail their counterparts. This automatically ends up in losing funding from donors, he adds.
Mr Kyotasoboire calls for an end to such conduct for the benefit of the people of Bunyoro who need to be kept abreast of information pertaining to oil and gas and also how they can tap money from the industry either directly or indirectly.
Mr Patrick Mugabi, the Executive Director of the Community Initiative Support Organisation says the high level hate among members of CSOs in Bunyoro is failing their operations in oil, livelihood and governance projects.
He observes that spiteful CSOs are doing a disservice to the local people who are the end consumers of information that they need in order to be guided on what to do to benefit from the oil in the region.
Mr Mugabi also castigates coalitions that compete with member CSOs for funds and other resources from donors to be used in roles far below their mandate.
While in their meeting at Hoima Resort Hotel in Hoima City recently, members of CSOs discussed the matter to level a ground that will see them operate within their boundaries to avoid clashes.
Mr Alfred Kusiima, the Coordinator of Bunyoro Coalition on Oil and Gas Sustainable Livelihood (BUCOSA) says there is need for organisations to lay down strategies that will always be guiding them when to request for funds from donors and where such monies should be injected to avoid collisions.
The Executive Director for Kitara Civil Organisation Network, Paul Mulindwa, says although the meeting was convened to iron out the misunderstanding, it ended in a fiasco since BUCOSA members did not reach an agreement, prompting them to push the meeting ahead to enable them revise the set guidelines.
Fighting for resources and funding from donors leads to organisations failure since most donors who fund coalitions are the same people who fund other individuals. So, if the matter is not clearly handled, donors end up pulling out from funding these coalitions and organisations.
