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Bidco suffers fresh setback as new report reveals firm breached UN policies
Bidco Africa has suffered a new setback after a draft report by the United Nations (UN) investigators found that its Ugandan subsidiary violated UN’s environmental policies while setting up the 30 million dollar processing plant in Uganda.
The Kenyan-based processing firm has previously tried to distance itself from the allegations of land grabbing and environmental destruction in Uganda, but the UNDP investigators in a report released Monday morning found a clear link between the company’s corporate structure, overseen by its Chief executive Vimal Shah and operations in Uganda.
The report is the result of a complaint filed by the Bugala Farmers Association to the U.N.’s Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) which stated that the United Nations had not performed sufficient due diligence on Bidco before inviting it to join Business Call to Action, which is part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The farmers had been fighting threats and land grabbing by Bidco calling into question its business practices.
The farmers provided evidence that Bidco has engaged in human rights, labour and environmental violations in the Kalangala District of Bugala Island, Lake Victoria, Uganda, where Bidco is believed to have grabbed land from smallholder farmers and cut down over 18,000 acres of rainforest to make way for a large-scale palm oil business.
“After the fieldwork and additional research, SECU concluded that the processes employed by UNDP for admission of Bidco were not consistent with UNDP policies,” read the report in part.
The report acknowledges that a partnership with Bidco “could adversely damage UNDP’s reputation and the communities it seeks to help”, and Bidco’s activities “may be considered risky.”
The investigators also determined that Bidco’s claim of not being involved in land acquisition in Uganda is not accurate. Bidco “knew of, relied on, and encouraged the purchase (of land) by the government.” Bidco Uganda also was “engaged in decisions and discussions related to the purchase,” the report says.
John Muyisa, a representative of the Bugala Farmers Association, commended the work of the U.N. investigators, who visited remote Kalangala District as part of their research.
“We are very pleased that the United Nations has performed an objective evaluation of its internal processes and determined that it is risky to partner with Bidco. The United Nations is a globally admired organisation, and it is absolutely correct that, as the report says, ‘Communities should be empowered’ and not be trodden upon by predator corporations like Bidco.”
In light of the report’s findings, the Bugala Farmers Association has called on the United Nations to terminate its partnership with Bidco.