Thursday, February 23, 2012
By Andante Okanya
Four employees of petroleum giant Shell Uganda have asked the High Court in Kampala to block its alleged sale.
Anthony Ogalo (retail sales manager), Christine Busingye, Diana Kigozi, and Sam Bukenya say the company has deliberately refused to inform them about the details of its intended sale.
In the suit filed on February 21 through Barenzi and Company Advocates, the four workers contend that the company has not consulted them, as negotiations with potential investor continue.
The positions held by the three other plaintiffs, Busingye, Kigozi and Bukenya, is not indicated.
In April last year, parent company Royal Dutch Shell PLC boss Peter Voser announced that his company would exit 35% of its retail markets, which would see them close in 21 of its African subsidiaries, including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and Botswana.
But the plaintiffs contend that their future is bleak, claiming the company is hiding vital information from its employees despite numerous requests from them [plaintiffs] to seek answers.
“The plaintiffs have on several occasions requested the defendant to involve them in the divesture of the said company but the defendant has since refused to involve them or to give them a hearing,” the plaintiffs contend.
They also assert that the company has acted unfairly by threatening to keep the plaintiffs out of the divesture process.
An affidavit sworn by Ogalo in support of the suit cites the laying off of staff at the company’s Information Technology department, saying it indicated that their future is uncertain.
The quartet also notes that as members of the Shell Uganda Staff Provident Trust Fund, their current predicament implies that they risk losing their saved funds.
“Having heavily invested savings into the Trust scheme with the respondent, it’s in jeopardy as we don’t know its fate after the divesture,” they say.
Accordingly, they want court to declare that the disposal or intended disposal without their consent is illegal or contrary to their contracts of employment and statutory provisions.
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Shell Employees in Africa Protest Against Being Sold by Shell: 29 July 2008
Ethiopian employees accuse Shell of raiding retirement fund: 18 December 2007
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
