The Water Powers at Bujagali Falls, Uganda

CURRENT AFRICAN ISSUES 62 Dammed Divinities The Water Powers at Bujagali Falls, Uganda Terje Oestigaard NORDISKA AFRIKAINSTITUTET, UPPSALA 2015 1 INDEXING TERMS: Uganda Nile River Dams Water power Conflicts Traditional religion Cultural heritage Belief Rituals The opinions expressed in this volume are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Nordic Africa Institute. ISSN 0280-2171 ISBN 978-91-7106-768-5 © The author, The Nordic Africa Institute. Production: Byrå4 Print on demand, Lightning Source UK Ltd. 2 Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................5 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................7 Chapter 2: The Nile is Wealth ....................................................................................................9 Chapter 3: Dams in Uganda ....................................................................................................22 Chapter 4: Dams, developments and discourses ........................................................................30 Chapter 5: River spirits or hullabaloo on the Nile ........................................................................44 Chapter 6: Appeasing or annoying the spirits? ..........................................................................54 Chapter 7: Where is the Budhagaali spirit? ...............................................................................69 Chapter 8: Concluding remarks ...............................................................................................83 References ..........................................................................................................................85 Endnotes .............................................................................................................................89 3 List of figures Figure 1. Map of Uganda and Lake Victoria. Nile Basin Research Programme, University of Bergen, Norway. Figure 2. John Hanning Speke and the source of the White Nile, 28 July 1862. Picture at Speke Hotel, Kampala. Figure 3. Winston Churchill standing on an observation ladder at Hippo Camp in Uganda. Source: Churchill 1909, facing p.182. Figure 4. The ‘stones’ or the Ripon Falls in the 1940s. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Dudley Essex. Figure 5. Map of Owen Falls, Bujagali Falls and Itanda Falls. Modified from Google Maps. Figure 6. The reservoir of the Bujagali Dam. Figure 7. The Bujagali Dam. Figure 8. Itanda or Kalagala Falls. Figure 9. Drowned islands in the Bujagali reservoir, where the spirits still re- side. Figure 10. Visitors in Nfuudu’s compound reading his sign: ‘Nabamba Bujaga- li. Mzee Nfuudu Benedicto Badru. Jjaja Wa Lubaale Kimaka.’ Figure 11. The Namizi shrines when they were finished, but lacking spirits. Figure 12. Caves in the Bujagali reservoir where sacrifices are made. Figure 13. Jaja Bujagali. Figure 14. Murchison Falls. 4 Acknowledgements I would first and foremost like to thank all the informants who generously gave of their time and answered my questions, in particular Jaja Bujagali, Jaja Itanda, Jaja Kagulu and Jaja Kiyira. There are many others I interviewed in the course of my fieldwork, and special thanks are due to Richard Gonza and Waguma Yasin Ntembe for putting me in touch with key informants. Simon provided invaluable help as a translator and Moses, my assistant throughout, deserves special thanks. A research project does not take place only in the field. The Uganda National Council for Science and Technology provided me with a research permit (SS 3202). The Nile Basin Research Programme (NBRP) also assisted me, and I particularly thank Prof. Edward Kirumira, Margaret Kyakuwa and the director of NBRP, Dr Tore Saetersdal. Not least my thanks are due to Prof. Terje Tvedt. The Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, my workplace, has also supported this project and provided a stimulating research environment. I would like to thank all the staff and in particular Prof. Kjell Havnevik. Lastly, I thank Pernilla Bäck- ström for her invaluable help with library loans and Peter Colenbrander for commenting upon the language. Especially when studying the controversies surrounding dam building, there is literally a flood of opinion on the web. Not all of this information has been relevant, but some of the most interesting discussions and data are to be found online and not in published papers. Regarding references, endnotes have been used to make the text easier to read. References to internet blogs, newspaper articles online and unpublished reports are included only in the endnotes, whereas published works are also included in a separate bibliography. Given the enormous volume of data dams generate, I have tried to limit the sources to what I perceive to be the most relevant. As always, I am solely responsible for the content and the interpretations. Unless otherwise stated, I have taken the photos. Terje Oestigaard Uppsala, 26 February 2015 5 Figure 1. Map of Uganda and Lake Victoria. Nile Basin Research Programme, University of Bergen, Norway. 6 Chapter 1: Introduction The Bujagali Hydropower Project in Uganda has been one of the most controversial dam projects in modern times. Located some eight kilometres north of Jinja and the outlet of Lake Victoria or the historic source of the White Nile (Fig. 1), it was Uganda’s second large dam when it was inaugurated in 2012. More dams are planned along the Nile, including at Itanda or Kalagala, the next waterfall north of Bujagali, some 30 kilometres from Jinja. Apart from the general criticism of dams, the Bujagali project has been unique in the sense that the controversies surrounding it relate to the major water spirit in the culture of the Busoga Kingdom, whose home was to be flooded. In fact, the dam was postponed for years because of this spirit and the fierce disputes between two healers claiming to be the water spirit’s representatives. Water powers take many forms and in the Bujagali Falls one may see how technology and cosmology are interlinked in local and global discourse. The analysis in this publication takes three key issues as its central focus. First, water is the basis for hydropower, and Uganda’s industrialisation de- pends on sufficient energy. The Bujagali Dam is crucial in increasing the coun- try’s energy supply, as are the other dams along the Nile in Uganda that are being planned or constructed. Second, the power of water is manifest in the waterfalls themselves, which are testimony to the river spirits living there. Throughout Uganda, water and in particular waterfalls are part of the cosmology of traditional, indigenous re- ligions, which take many forms. In the Bujagali Falls, there are innumerable spirits, the most powerful being the Budhagaali spirit, which is embodied in one particular healer, Jaja Bujagali, who is perceived to be an ‘archbishop’ in the traditional religion. Third, water has the power to generate powerful discourses locally and in- ternationally. The construction of large dams causes intense and heated debate between water developers and anti-dam campaigners. Although proponents and opponents share the same overall goal, namely the betterment of people and society, they differ as regards the best development practices, with or without foreign aid or capital. This analysis contextualises the Bujagali project both historically and glob- ally. Why has it been seen as so controversial? What was the ritual drama behind the scenes when three major appeasement ceremonies were conducted to secure the Budhagaali spirit’s blessing of the dam? How did the dam affect the main river spirit and indigenous religion, and is it possible to drown a river spirit in its own element – water? All these questions relate to modernity and development discourses, but with regard to Bujagali, there was one additional factor: How do you negotiate with a spirit? 7 Terje Oestigaard The analysis starts with an historical context. Historically, the British ex- plorer John Hanning Speke discovered the source of the White Nile in Uganda on 28 July 1862. Although his discovery was challenged back in England and is so even today, since it was of the outlet of Lake Victoria and not the remot- est source, it was an historic event, and, by linking the Great Lakes with the Mediterranean, was to shape the development of a large part of Africa. Impor- tantly, it has to be seen in relation to British colonisation of East Africa. More specifically, the first ideas of damming the Nile in Uganda were put forward as early as the second half of the nineteenth century. Then the analysis turns to the construction of the Owen Falls Dam and the Bujagali Dam, including facts and figures. The Bujagali Dam is set within the context of the World Commission on Dams and its report of 2000. The differing positions of dam developers and anti-dam campaigners will be discussed, as will China’s role as a new player in the global dam business. There follow a thorough description and analysis of what happened specifically with regard to the Budhagaali water spirit residing in the waterfalls. The construction team aimed to get local acceptance of the dam by arranging grandiose appeasement ceremonies for the spirit, and no fewer than three such ceremonies took place over the next 10 years. However, since spirits sign no agreements and certificates vouching that they are satisfied, such evidence has to be secured by the

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