By the Witness Radio team.

At Buganda Road court, four youth activists from the Rooted in Resistance Movement were charged with public nuisance after their arrest during a passionate plea to Parliament for an oil-free Uganda.

Activists Ssembalirwa Aniwally, Mugoya Hassan, Aron Patrick Ariong, and Okanya Ivan were detained by parliamentary police as they marched with determination toward Parliament, urging the Ugandan government to abandon oil dependency in favor of an ‘oil-free economy’ built on economic freedom, sustainability, and citizen involvement.

According to the charge sheet seen by Witness Radio, the prosecution alleges that on August 10, 2026, at about 9:00 am, the four activists, along with others still at large, were at King George Way Street in Kampala Central. They wore orange T-shirts bearing the words “Rooted in Resistance” and carried placards with messages including “Prioritize Other Sectors of the Economy,” “Oil Is Temporary, Nature Is Permanent,” and “Oil Today, Problems Tomorrow.”

Prosecutors claim the activists stood on the road, disrupting traffic and creating hazards.

The activists appeared before Grade One Magistrate Her Worship Rophine Achayo at Buganda Road court yesterday, where they were charged with being a nuisance on the public road, contrary to Section 67(1) of the Road Act, Cap. 346.

Section 160(1) of the Penal Code Act, which defines a common nuisance, provides that any person who does an act not authorized by law or fails to discharge a legal duty and thereby causes “any common injury, or danger or annoyance,” or obstructs or causes inconvenience to the public in the exercise of common rights, commits the misdemeanor of common nuisance and is liable to imprisonment for one year.

The four pleaded not guilty and now await their fate in Luzira Prison, remanded until August 28, 2026.

The group’s mission was to urge Parliament to rethink Uganda’s reliance on petroleum, warning that true prosperity cannot be built on a resource that will one day run out.

The activists contend that despite years of promises—jobs, industry, infrastructure, and poverty relief—oil’s benefits have reached only a privileged few, while many others remain trapped in poverty.

“Our demand for an oil-free economy is not a rejection of development, but a demand for a different development model, one that places Ugandan citizens, productive sectors and sustainable wealth creation at the center of national planning,” the group said.

They call for bold investment in other sectors, insisting Uganda should chart a path toward sustainable wealth, citizen empowerment, and true economic independence instead of clinging to petroleum.

These arrests are part of a troubling pattern as more Ugandans face criminal charges for protesting oil projects or demanding accountability for their social and environmental costs.

12 environmental activists were arrested in Kampala in August 2025 during a protest against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Eight out of the 12 activists were later convicted and sent to prison to serve an eleven (11) month sentence. They were released from Luzira Prison on April 21, 2026, as time spent on remand had effectively covered their 11-month sentences.

The other four, including Ivan Wamboga, Baker Tamale and Habibu Nalungu, pleaded guilty and were released on November 19, 2025, after being ordered to perform community service. Mark Makoba also pleaded guilty and was released on November 6, 2025, without any additional penalty.

These cases reveal the risks faced by those who challenge Uganda’s oil agenda. Even after release, the activists’ ordeals have intensified fears for freedom of expression and assembly across civil society.

By the Witness Radio team.

Four young members of Rooted in Resistance were arrested as they tried to deliver a petition urging Parliament to steer Uganda away from oil dependency toward an ‘oil-free economy’ built on economic freedom, sustainability, and active citizen involvement.

Ssembalirwa Aniwallh, Mugoya Hassan, Aron Patrick Ariong, and Okanya Ivan were taken into custody by parliamentary police early in the day as they marched toward Parliament to submit their petition.

According to Witness Radio sources, the four were detained nearly the entire day before being taken to Kampala Central Police Station.

The group aimed to persuade Parliament to rethink Uganda’s investment in petroleum extraction and infrastructure, insisting that true prosperity cannot survive on a resource that will run out.

In their petition, Rooted in Resistance invoked several provisions of the Constitution, including Article 38, which provides for citizens’ participation in the affairs of government, as well as provisions relating to freedom of expression and assembly, environmental protection, fair administrative treatment and the management of natural resources in the interests of present and future generations.

The activists point out that oil has long been touted as the answer to Uganda’s economic woes, promising jobs, industry, and progress. They warn these promises often fail to reach everyday Ugandans.

“Petroleum development carries significant economic, social and environmental risks and must be resisted. Our demand for an oil-free economy is not a rejection of development, but a demand for a different development model, one that places Ugandan citizens, productive sectors and sustainable wealth creation at the center of national planning,” the group says in its petition.

They highlight that petroleum development demands massive capital, depends on foreign corporations, and involves complex investments and sprawling infrastructure.

They say this approach falls short of creating the widespread jobs needed for Uganda’s fast-growing population.

They warn that relying on oil risks turning Ugandans into bystanders, watching their resources extracted instead of taking part in building the nation’s wealth.

“Economic freedom will be difficult to achieve through dependence on an exhaustible resource largely controlled through capital-intensive investments, multinational corporations and complex petroleum agreements,” the group argues.

Rooted in Resistance envisions an economy where Uganda invests in sectors that open doors for all citizens: agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, renewable energy, technology, and homegrown businesses.

They believe Uganda’s future should be rooted in its people, rich land, abundant water, vibrant biodiversity, and entrepreneurial spirit, not a resource destined to run dry.

The activists’ petition arrives at a pivotal moment, as Uganda speeds up its petroleum projects and prepares to launch commercial oil production.

Uganda discovered commercially viable oil deposits in 2006 and is now expected to begin commercial production in late September 2026.

As of June 30, 2026, the Tilenga project was 74 percent complete, with 234 wells drilled, exceeding the minimum 170 wells required for production.

The Kingfisher project had reached 79 percent completion. In comparison, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) stood at about 90 percent overall progress, with more than 1,443 kilometers of pipeline welded across Uganda and Tanzania.

In July, Irene Bateebe, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, said Uganda remained on course to begin commercial oil production in September. As the country moves closer to its first barrels of commercially produced oil, environmental and social concerns continue to accompany the petroleum push.

Activists and researchers have sounded the alarm about oil development’s potential toll on communities, wetlands, wildlife, and Uganda’s precious biodiversity.

The activists urge Parliament to look past the lure of quick oil profits and reflect on the legacy Uganda will leave for generations to come.

By the Witness Radio team.

For over ten years, families in Ranch 11, Kiryandongo District, cherished the hope that they had at last found a true home.

Their path to Ranch 11 was paved with hardship and repeated displacement. Some families, as Witness Radio discovered, were forced out of conservation areas, while others lost their homes amid political turmoil. When the government finally allocated them land through the Office of the President, they dared to believe their long search for safety was over.

Yet now, the very land they say President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni gave them has become the heart of a fresh conflict, as a sugarcane company lays claim to it.

Residents now accuse the Uganda Land Commission of quietly leasing part of Ranch 11 to sugarcane investor M/S Muhazi Heritage, leaving out the very communities who had built lives there for over a decade.

For families like Fred Kangume’s, this so-called development feels like yet another eviction, carried out without the voices or consent of those who call the land home.

“We were resettled on this land on orders of the President. And now we are surprised that an investor was given the same land without our consent or being informed,” Kangume told Witness Radio.

A Witness Radio investigation reveals a troubling contradiction: while official documents show attempts to secure land for these communities, the Uganda Land Commission later handed over more than 1,000 hectares of that very land to Muhazi Heritage through a lease agreement.

This dispute now sparks a deeper question about land governance in Uganda: how can families settled by government order lose their land when another state body gives it away to a private investor?

Several correspondences reviewed by Witness Radio indicate that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni directed the Ministry of Lands to allocate land in Kiryandongo to approximately 750 landless families, including the Nubian and Kibyama communities who had converged in Kigumba and were living in difficult conditions in makeshift settlements.

The affected groups included about 350 families who had been evicted from the Karuma Wildlife Reserve in 1999 and 404 Nubian families who had been displaced from different parts of Uganda during and after the 1978/79 political turmoil.

According to information obtained by Witness Radio from the office of the Minister of State for Lands, the history of displacement for some of these families dates back to the 1970s.

During the government of former President Idi Amin, authorities established the Palestinian Farm at Kiroko in Kiryandongo Sub-county, displacing hundreds of families from their land.

The documents indicate that the affected families were neither compensated nor resettled after losing their land. As a result, some moved to neighboring public land, which was later gazetted as part of the Karuma Forest Reserve.

Years later, these same families faced another displacement when the Uganda Wildlife Authority evicted them from the reserve, leaving many without homes, land for cultivation, or reliable sources of livelihood.

The second group comprised members of the Nubian community who, after returning from exile, found that their former homes and properties in places such as Gulu, Lira, Soroti, and other parts of Uganda had been taken over during insurgencies. They also faced a challenging social and political environment, forcing many to seek refuge among friends and relatives in Masindi District.

With both groups facing prolonged landlessness and uncertainty, they petitioned President Museveni in 2000, requesting government intervention and resettlement.

A 2001 correspondence from the Ministry of Lands to the Office of the President states that government officials identified Ranch 11, part of the former Bunyoro Ranching Scheme, as available land that could be used to resettle the landless families.

The document states: “Within Masindi District, currently Kiryandongo District, was a vacant Ranch No. 11… which according to the Ranches Restructuring exercise was allocated to the Office of the President and could in this circumstance be subdivided to settle the landless 750 families.”

In 2006, President Museveni directed that the communities be resettled on approximately 5.5 square miles of land in Ranch 11.

For these families, the directive represented a new beginning and what they hoped would be an end to decades of displacement. In 2013, with support from local leaders and officers from the Ministry of Lands, the affected communities were resettled on the land.

Over the years, residents had built homes, established trading centers, and invested in agriculture. But according to residents, the land was never fully surveyed, and individual ownership documents were never issued.

In 2023, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Kiryandongo District requested financial support from the Ministry of Finance to facilitate the resettlement process for these categories: “Nubian community and families displaced from Karuma Wildlife Reserve.”

A letter from Permanent Secretary Ramathan Ggoobi informed the district that Shs200 million (about $53,428 USD) would be provided for the exercise. The funds, according to the letter, were to be budgeted under the Transitional Development Grant for the 2023/24 financial year.

Yet as communities waited in hope for official land documents, a separate process was quietly granting the same land to an investor.

Documents obtained by Witness Radio show that the Uganda Land Commission, during the Commission’s meeting of 4 August 2023 under Minute 64/2023(a)(04), approved the allocation of 1,059.89 hectares of land, equivalent to four square miles, to Muhazi Heritage.

The company received a five-year lease, renewable up to 49 years. On 17 December 2024, the Uganda Land Commission issued a certificate of title to Muhazi Heritage.

This turn of events stunned residents, who insist they were never consulted despite being the rightful occupants. Instead of security, the allocation sparked another wave of violent evictions as the company pressed for full control and communities fought back against what they called blatant land grabbing.

Charles Kalakire, the chairperson of Kimogola B village, told Witness Radio that local leaders were not involved in the allocation process.

“I was never consulted when the Uganda Land Commission awarded land to the company, which had legally known sitting tenants,” Kalakire said.

He added that he only learned about changes in land allocation after receiving information from district security officials.

“I got this information from the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), a president’s representative in the district, and the District Internal Security Officer (DISO) that land had now moved from the hands of the people to the investor,” he added.

Residents say the investor’s deal left just 1.5 square miles for over 750 families. For many, the conflict has spilled from paperwork into daily life.

“The situation is worse; people are beaten and forced to receive compensation, a level of impunity which forced the state minister of lands, Hon Sam Mayanja, to intervene and cause harmony in the area.” Mr. David Bakundaki, another resident, said.

During his visit to Kimogora in 2024, Mayanja revealed that the investor had requested the commission to allocate his company the entire Ranch 11 measuring over 5.5 square miles.

Based on his guidance, through a 2024 letter to the commission, he ordered the commission to allocate 4 square miles, and the remaining 1.5 square miles be used to resettle the affected people. The company was also directed to compensate residents, support relocation, and provide infrastructure including schools, health facilities, and roads as part of corporate social responsibility.

However, residents and leaders say the remaining land is already occupied, making relocation difficult.

“The people who have been occupying the four-square miles are now being packed into the 1.5 square miles. They are being allocated a quarter acre. On top of that, the allocations are now creating land tensions with those they found in.”

“Also, those who have received compensation have got peanuts, 200,000, 300,000 Uganda shillings, which can’t afford to cater for their families or buy land elsewhere, and the responsibility that had to come along with resettling people was never fulfilled.” Mr. Godfrey Kiviri, former chairperson of Mutunda A village, told Witness Radio.

Meanwhile, those refusing to leave their land face violence from company workers, supported by security forces.

The Ranch 11 saga lays bare a deep contradiction in Uganda’s land management: a government meant to restore dignity to the displaced later hands their land to a private sugarcane investor.

For these communities, the fight has become about more than land. It is now a struggle for trust, accountability, and the hope that government promises to its most vulnerable will be honored.