By witnessradio.org Team
The Bamba-Babwisi tribe in Bundibugyo district has tasked the government to find them alternative land for resettlement or else relocate them back to their ancestral land where they were evicted
In their petition to the parliament, the Bamba Bamwisi want to be resettled or taken back to their ancestral land in parts of the current Semlik National Park from which they were evicted.
More than 10,000 community members through their association, the Matongo Lost Land Recovery Families Organization led by Cornelius Bacekuru Iniyabho, say that their dispossession has caused identity loss, survival difficulties and many continue to scatter across the region.
Bacekuru was speaking to journalists during a visit by members of the Natural Resources committee of parliament who are investigating controversies surrounding the eviction.
‘’We were hosted by friends, relatives, and in-laws. Those without, are exiled in Congo and other parts of the country, personally, I am squatter in a good Samaritan’s land,” Bacekuru said.
They argue that the eviction that led to their dispossession contradicts international and national laws that govern the people in their rights and freedom on evictions and belonging.
The Bamba cultural head, also known as Omudhingiya wa Bwamba, Martin Ayongi Kamya, tasked the government and the parliament to listen to the cries of his people.
The Bamba-Babwisi people occupied about 125 square kilometers of land covering areas near the Saara stream to River Semuliki through River Lamia to the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Some of them settled in areas within Bwamba County within Bundibugyo district.
The first eviction happened in 1920 by the colonial government following an outbreak of sleeping sickness in the area. The purpose was to mainly safeguard the population against the outbreak of the epidemic. The land later gazetted as a forest reserve.
A second eviction occurred in 1983 by the government of Uganda, then led by Dr. Apollo Milton Obote. As a result, some of the Bamba-Babwisi people settled in the DRC, areas around Tokwe Sub-county, parts of Tooro, while others have gone to Hoima and Kasese district among others.
