By vision reporter

GLENN Gaydar, the American project director of the Bujagali hydro-power project, has seen a lot in his 25-year career of building dams around the world.

But his experience with the Ugandan spirits will almost certainly take up a special chapter in his memoirs.

What started as a normal day in May 2009 ended up seeing workers flee from the site and not returning until the spirits, who had been disturbing their work, had been resettled.
“Our night workers reported that they had seen three small men in white come out of the water, trying to push the excavator into the river,” Gaydar narrated.

“The machine operator ran to the guards who rushed in. But when they raised their guns to shoot at the creatures, the guns reportedly jammed. They dropped their weapons and ran away.”
For three days, the night workers refused to return to work. “We had to call in a traditional healer and organise a ceremony to restore the sanctity of the work place.”
Farouk Mpalanyi was on duty the night the spirits ‘invaded’. “It was about 11:00 pm and I was on night shift,” he recalled.
“I saw two very short people in white clothes. They were talking in the local language of Lusoga, as if they were at home.”

He said his colleague, who was operating an excavator, had also seen the men in white.

“He told me that when he was moving a stone, he saw a short man who threatened to kill him. We went to report the incident to our supervisor. We were very scared. Everybody left. We did not work for three nights.”
Pastor Paul Mayasa confirmed having heard but not seen the spirits. “When I moved aside a stone, I heard people talking. They were conversing like in a home setting. ‘These people are pushing us away. They are interfering with our lives’, I overheard them say.”
He said he tried to see where the voices were coming from, hoping to spot them in the headlights of an approaching truck, but at this point, his colleagues urged him to leave the place.

The workers, most of whom come from Jinja, believe the spirits of the dead, buried on the island at the construction site, had resurfaced because they had never been given a new home.
A first ceremony to relocate the spirits took place in 2001 under the previous developer, AES. It was part of the process to compensate and resettle people affected by the construction of the dam.

When the new developers, Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL), came in, they were told they needed to buy land and build shrines to provide the spirits with a new home and eternal peace.
“We bought one acre on the eastern bank, in a village called Namizi, where three shrines were to be erected,” said Zakalia Lubega of BEL, in charge of relations with the community.
Over sh30m was paid for the land, the shrines and the appeasement ceremony. However, part of the money was misappropriated by Busoga kingdom officials.

The shrines have no roof. This, the locals believe, is the reason why the spirits came back last year. “They should have gone to those who ate their money,” remarked Lubega.
Nevertheless, Gaydar decided to organise another appeasement ceremony to reassure his workers and get them back to work.

The night-long function, which involved bringing in 40 diviners and spirit associates, required him to buy a bull, eight goats, 10 chicken and 40 litres of local brew, known as tonto.
Worker Mpalanyi, who attended the ceremony, said it started at 5:00 pm with dancing and beating of drums and lasted up to morning.

The animals were slaughtered later at night and every corner of the site sprinkled with their blood. “The main celebrant and his aides, who put on bark clothes and beads, looked as if they were possessed, jumping and shaking vigorously,” he narrated. “We all ate the meat but only the diviners drank the brew. Since then, no more spirits were seen. I believe they are gone.”

For the American project director, it is a matter of respecting local cultures and beliefs.

“The appeasement was done with all the seriousness and all the professionalism required,” he noted.
His philosophy is that, as dam builders, they should respect both local communities and the environment in which they operate. Any mistake in dealing with nature, he believes, can have dire consequences.

“We should never think that we can control Mother Nature. As the minute we do, she will reach out and catch us off-guard.”

That’s why he cringed at Ugandan media reports after the groundbreaking ceremony which said BEL had ‘tamed the mighty waters’ when they diverted the flow of the river.

“That is asking for another visit by the spirits and their reaction may not be so kind,” he said.