Danish company Frontier Energy, which develops and operates green energy projects in Africa, is setting up a support fund for the victims of abuse and sexual exploitation committed by employees at the company’s Nyamagasani Hydro Power Project in western Uganda.
This is according to an investigation into the case that Frontier Energy has just published.
Through the fund, victims will be able to receive support for health and legal aid, and Frontier Energy will also provide psychologists and help the affected girls and women find work.
Danwatch uncovered the case in December 2023 in collaboration with the television station NTV Uganda. At the time, Juliet Kabugho told how she had been impregnated and abandoned by an older employee at Frontier Energy’s hydropower station.
She was 17 years old when she became pregnant, which is below the age of consent of 18 in Uganda.
“He called me several days in a row and asked me to meet him at the market. One day I went down there and met him. He told me he loved me, but I didn’t understand because we had never met. After two weeks, he started sending me money. First 20,000 shillings, then 30,000 shillings (55 kroner, ed.). Then he demanded that we have sex. I tried to refuse him, but he insisted,” said Juliet Kabugho when NTV Uganda met her in Kyarumba village.
Juliet Kabugho is one of several girls and women in the area who were impregnated and abandoned by employees of the Nyamagasani Hydro Power Project between 2018 and 2022. Like Juliet, a number of them were under Uganda’s age of consent.
When NTV Uganda met another of the affected girls, Jessica Kabugho, in December 2023, she urged Frontier Energy to help the victims find work so they could provide for their children.
“My message to the company is that they make sure we women get a job or some education so we have a chance to create our own lives,” she said.
Ivan Bwambale, politically elected chairman of the Kyarumba sub-county council, is pleased that Frontier Energy will help the victims.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, so I’m very happy that the girls can now look forward to receiving some help from the company,” he says.
Who is Frontier Energy?
- Frontier Energy is a Danish company that invests in green energy in Africa. The company was founded in 2011 and has offices in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Copenhagen.
- In addition to the Nyamagasani Hydro Power Project, Frontier Energy is involved in five other hydropower stations in Uganda.
- Frontier Energy has a majority stake in the Nyamagasani Hydro Power Project through the project companies, Rwenzori Hydro and Nyamagasani 2 HPP Ltd.
- The Confederation of Danish Industry was one of the founders of Frontier Energy but is no longer part of the company. Frontier Energy receives funding from, among others, Danish pension funds and a number of European development institutions.
Criminal offenses
While the sources of Danwatch and NTV Uganda estimated that 31 girls and women had been impregnated and abandoned, Frontier Energy’s investigation conducted by a team of Ugandan experts in gender-based violence and sexual harassment found 51 possible cases.
However, the experts only managed to interview 41 girls and women.
It also appears that 28 of the perpetrators worked for Frontier Energy’s subcontractor VS Hydro, which built the Nyamagasani Hydro Power Project, or one of their subcontractors, the security company G4S. 15 men could not be identified, while two men worked for the Ugandan military and were stationed in the area.
The investigation shows that the girls and women were subjected to abuse of varying nature and severity.
Ten of them were under the age of consent of 18 when they became pregnant.
“Such instances of sexual relations with minors may constitute a criminal offense under Ugandan law,” the investigation states.
24 girls and women are estimated to have suffered psychosocial, emotional and financial neglect, while further cases are described where girls and women were lured into sex with the promise of a job they never got.
All 41 girls and women reported that they had been abandoned by the fathers of their children and that the absence of the children’s fathers exposed the children to neglect. In two cases, the children were also abandoned by their mothers.
“Most children today live with grandparents (either alone or with their mothers) who bear the social and economic burden of childcare,” the investigation states.
This is what Jane Mbabmu told NTV Uganda in December 2023. Both her daughters were pregnant and abandoned by men employed at Nyamagasani Hydro Power Project. The girls were 17 and 19 years old.
“I take work at other people’s farms to support them all. The fathers have left, so it has been me who has had to pay for food and medical visits,” said Jane Mbambu.
Vague wording
Andrea Shemberg, a leading international lawyer specializing in business and human rights, has been following the case since Danwatch and NTV Uganda first uncovered it.
She welcomes Frontier Energy’s attempt to help the girls.
“Their openness is commendable. It allows other companies, experts, investors and lenders to learn from the case. They are also to be commended for conducting an investigation based on the victims’ testimonies and that they plan to implement the recommendations in the report in collaboration with local organizations,” she says.
However, Andrea Shemberg emphasizes that several of the initiatives to help the affected girls and women are “vaguely worded” and that the impact can only be assessed once they have been implemented.
Frontier Energy expects to spend 2-3 years providing assistance to the victims. The company did not want to answer how much money they have set aside for the support fund.