Connect with us

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Breaking: Land grabbers hire police officers, kidnap a community land rights defender at gunpoint.

Published

on

By the Witness Radio team,

Four armed men cladding police uniforms working for land grabbers in Kiryandongo district have kidnapped a community land rights defender for resisting an illegal land eviction targeting a community of 3000 people. 

Mr. Masaba Micheal, a community land rights defender based in Nyamuntende village in Kiryandongo district, was kidnapped over the weekend at 6:30 East African Standard Time. Eyewitnesses say Masaba was kidnapped when he tried to confront workers of the land grabbers that had entered on communities’ land and were mercilessly plowing down people’s food crops without compensation or resettlement. 

The land being grabbed is aimed for growing large-scale sugar by Somdiam Company, owned by ‘investors’ from India. The land measuring 809.3713 hectares is occupied by over 3000 residents.

Witness Radio – Uganda research, establishes that Somdiam Company Limited was incorporated in Uganda in 2011 and deals in imports of assorted food commodities among these are rice, sugar, vegetable cooking oil, biscuits, salt, tomato paste, powdered milk, pasta & spaghetti.

“My husband, being a community land rights defender was informed by community members that the Company tractors are digging people’s land without offering an alternative settlement, so he decided to go there and ask them why they are plowing the land. When he asked them, there was no good response. He was instead rounded up and handicapped before being taken to an unknown place. Right now, we do not know where he is.” One of his wives told Witness Radio.

“I feel bad because he was kidnaped for no reason, we have lived on this land on this land for more than 18 years peacefully, but now the Indian says he wants it. I am currently sick and my helper has been taken away from me,” The Puerperal wife added, calling for the immediate release of her husband and a father of 13.

Trouble started last week when armed police hired by Somdiam Company Limited renewed their intentions of grabbing the community land. Mr. Mushija Caleb, the chairman of the affected community, says the group of land grabbers started clearing land belonging to Community members without their consent while forcing some of them to receive the little compensation offered for their land at gunpoint. 

“We are illegally evicted because we refused the little compensation that they are giving us imagine being paid 2 million Uganda shillings for 10 acres, 20 acres. These are peanuts compared to the value of our land and how much we earn from it. When you refuse, your land is plowed and when you ask them why they are plowing it, they arrest you.” The chairman of the affected group said.

According to the chairman of the affected persons, acreages of plantations belonging to over six outspoken families have been destroyed by tractors guarded by armed Policemen in uniforms. The destroyed crops include maize, beans, sweet potatoes, and cassava among others. 

“Many people have lost many acres of their plantations, for example, I have lost 4 acres of beans, Masaba himself lost 4 acres of maize, Mulega Jackson lost 8 acres of potatoes, maize, simsim among others.” Mr. Mushija added.

According to the residents, the evictors informed them they were okayed by the office of the President of Uganda to evict locals off their land.

“They are promising to finish us all just because the project was cleared by the president. When we requested it, they didn’t show it to us.” One of the affected residents revealed.

When contacted to understand the whereabouts of the defender on Saturday morning, The District Policer officer in Kiryandongo district Edson Muhangi said he is not yet aware of any arrest in Nyamuntende village.

“I do not know any arrest that was conducted out in that area. Let me investigate and find out, then I call you back.” He added.

Our efforts to talk to the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Kiryandongo district Dan Mugganga, were futile as our calls on his known contacts went unanswered.

The RDCs, according to the recent order banning evictions by President Yoweri Museveni, are the only ones supposed to clear evictions.

Witness Radio also wanted to confirm allegations if the president cleared the company to evict the residents but our efforts were futile as the President’s Press Secretary Faruk Kirunda’s known contacts were off.

Continue Reading

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Court Alert: Court Grants Bail to Jailed Defender and Wife.

Published

on

By Witness Radio team.

After a significant legal engagement, a magistrate court in Kiryandongo District has decided to release a community land rights defender and his wife on bail. This decision comes after they spent 40 days in prison.

Olupot James, a community land rights defender from Kikungulu village, Kibeeka Parish, Kapundo Sub-county, in Kiryandongo District, and his wife, Apio Sarah, were charged with malicious damage to property on June 5th, 2025, and were remanded to different prisons, including Dyang Prison.

The arrest of the defender and his wife has had a profound impact on their four children, leaving them in a state of grief and pain. They were left without parental care in a house surrounded by the sugar plantation.

According to the prosecution, the duo allegedly uprooted sugarcane plants belonging to Kiryandongo Sugar Limited and replaced them with maize on land neighboring the defender’s home. The multinational claims ownership of the land.

The Penal Code Act, Cap. Section 312 (1) of Uganda states that any person who willfully and unlawfully destroys or damages any property commits an offence and is liable on conviction to up to five years’ imprisonment.

Since 2017, Olupot and several other community land defenders have been in and out of prison, a testament to their unwavering resistance against illegal land evictions. Their resilience is a source of inspiration for many. Thousands of families claim they have lost their land to the multinational without following any law, without receiving any compensation, and without being offered an alternative settlement.

Through Witness Radio Legal Aid Chambers, the duo was granted a non-cash bail of two million Shillings, and their case has been fixed for hearing on July 28th, 2025.

The children, who have been enduring the absence of their parents, are now experiencing a sense of relief and joy as the family is reunited.

Continue Reading

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

A land rights defender and his wife have been arrested, charged, and sent to prison.

Published

on

By Witness Radio team.

Kiryandongo District – A community land rights Defender at Nyamutende Cell in Kiryandongo District, and his wife have been sent to prison by a magistrate’s court in Kiryandongo District, Witness Radio confirms.

Olupot James and his wife, Apio Sarah, were charged with malicious damage to property after a multinational company, Kiryandongo Sugar Limited, accused them of destroying its crops. The area police later picked them up.

Since 2017, Kiryandongo Sugar Limited, a subsidiary of Rai Holdings Private Limited, has been among the three multinationals that have forcibly displaced over thirty-five thousand (35,000) people in Kiryandongo District without following due diligence or offering alternative settlement options.

Community land Rights defender Olupot James and his wife Apio Sarah are amongst a few remaining families that resisted the company’s violent eviction and repression. Their home is currently trapped in the middle of the sugar plantation after they lost their land, which was dug up to the house by the multinational. Despite their peaceful resistance, Olupot has been arrested, charged, and imprisoned more than six times, a clear indication of the injustice they are facing.

Since late May this year, the duo has been reporting to Kiryandongo police station on Criminal Case Number CRB No. 316/2025, until they were arrested and aligned before the court and imprisoned. Olupot was remanded to Dyang while Apio is in Kiryandongo prison.

The state alleges that Olupot and Apio committed the offence of malicious damage to property in Kikungulu village, Kiryandongo District, a region with a complex history of land-related conflicts.

The Witness Radio’s legal aid team is monitoring the case and will appear in court to apply for their bail.

Continue Reading

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Crackdown on EACOP protesters intensifies: 35 Activists arrested in just four months.

Published

on

By Witness Radio team.

Ugandan authorities’ ongoing crackdown on anti-EACOP protest marches is spreading rapidly like wildfires. The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Project, a significant oil infrastructure development, has been a point of contention. Recently, Witness Radio warned that criminalizing the activities of individual activists and environmental defenders opposed to this project, which aims to transport crude oil from Hoima in Uganda to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania, will be regarded as the most disastrous and insensitive to communities’ concerns in Uganda’s history.

In just four months, a series of arrests targeting environmental activists opposing the mega oil project that transports crude oil from Hoima in Uganda to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania has resulted in a scene of crime. No one is allowed to express their concerns peacefully about it and push back on its adverse negative impacts.

While activists view the peaceful marches as a rightful and brave effort to protect the environment and the communities affected by the project, the authorities, including the Uganda police and Prosecutor’s office, regard these actions as attempts to sabotage development projects and resort to criminalization.

Activists and civil society organizations’ reports indicate that the project will likely damage the environment and has displaced thousands of local communities in Uganda and Tanzania.

Despite growing concerns and an intensified crackdown, project financiers and shareholders remain unwavering in supporting the EACOP project. This steadfast support underscores the urgency of the situation. However, environmental and human rights defenders stand firm, resolutely demanding the project’s halt, showing a glimmer of hope in this challenging situation.

Over last weekend, eleven (11) environmental activists were arrested, charged, and sent to prison. They were arrested and detained by police at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) premises while attempting to deliver a petition urging the bank to halt its financial support for the 1,444-kilometer heated pipeline project.

The arrest of the eleven activists comes less than a month after nine activists were detained on April 02 outside the Stanbic Bank headquarters while attempting to deliver a petition urging the bank to halt its funding for the project.

The eleven include Bob Barigye, Augustine Tukamashaba, Gilbert Ayebare, Umar Kasimbe, Joseph Ssengozi, Keith Namanya, Raymond Bituhanga, Mohammed Ssentongo, Paul Ssekate, Misach Saazi and Phionah Nalusiba.

KCB Bank Uganda is one of the banks that recently joined the race to fund the EACOP project. Last month, On March 26, 2025, EACOP Ltd., the company in charge of the construction and future operation of the EACOP project, announced that it had acquired additional financing provided by a syndicate of financial institutions, including regional banks such as KCB Bank.

Other banks in the syndicate include the Stanbic Bank Uganda, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).

The activists appeared before the Nakawa Chief Magistrate Court on April 25. They were charged with criminal trespass. According to section 302 of the Penal Code, a person convicted of criminal trespass is liable to a maximum sentence of one year in prison. This detail underscores the weight of the situation.

The activists are currently on remand at Luzira Maximum Prison and are expected to appear again before the court on May 08, 2025, for mention.

Continue Reading

Resource Center

Legal Framework

READ BY CATEGORY

Facebook

Newsletter

Subscribe to Witness Radio's newsletter



Trending

Subscribe to Witness Radio's newsletter