Banana plantations were destroyed following a fight over family land in Bwikhonje Village, Busano Sub County Mbale District. Photo by Yahudu Kitunzi  By YAHUDU KITUNZI One person has been killed and five houses torched

AFRICA – Finnfund, a development financer, has invested US$15 million in a syndicate loan to Export Trading Group (ETG) alongside other investors to enable it further develop its business. Founded in Kenya in 1967,

By witnessradio.org Team   Kampala – Uganda – Witness Radio – Uganda, has petitioned the ministry of security to immediately investigate and take punitive actions against Kiryandongo District security committee for undermining government’s COVID-19

Zombo, Uganda | Police in Zombo district are investigating an incident in which 15 grass thatched houses were set ablaze at a height of a protracted land dispute in Atiak village. Reports from the police

By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – Just like any country under lockdown and a curfew, people living in Uganda are obliged to adhere to stipulated guidelines and time limits to be indoor.

By ANTHONY WESAKA Unscrupulous individuals are taking advantage of the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown to grab other people’s land, Daily Monitor has learnt. Ms Isabel Kabanda (not real names), a Facebook user took to her

Some of the bulldozers used to destroy people’s gardens in Kiryandongo By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – Despite the existence of government’s order stopping land eviction during the COVID-19 lockdown, three multinational

Businessman Abid Alam in court where he was charged and remanded on April 16, 2020. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA  Kampala businessman Abid Alam has been remanded to prison over allegations of conspiracy to defeat

Lands minister Betty Kamya By witnessradio.org Team   Kampala – Uganda – the government of Uganda has ordered a total halt of evicting communities from contested land during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. The government

Four Wamala region senior police officers arrested for conniving with Abid Alam to defeat justice ( PHOTO/Courtesy) KAMPALA — The State House Anti-Corruption Unit has arrested four police officers for allegedly mismanaging case files

By witnessradio.org Team   Mubende – Uganda – More than 800 families from Kyamukoona, Kijojolo and Kalagala villages- Mubende District have petitioned the district land board to immediately cancel the land title that was

As COVID-19 crisis rages, 119 groups from 30 countries push urgent demands for rural peoples With governments around the world rushing to contain the further spread of COVID-19, often with restrictive lockdown measures, 119

One of the houses that were dismantled during the evictions By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – Police in Kiryandongo has finally succumbed to pressure and released three (3) land rights defenders on

One of the demolished houses  By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – Police in Kiryandongo is blatantly abusing a 48-hours constitutional order to illegally detain three (3) land rights defenders for 6 days

Courtesy Photo Front Line Defenders condemns the continued harassment and arbitrary detention of land rights defenders in the Kiryandongo district, which appears to be part of a pattern of reprisals for their activities mobilising

By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – Four (4) Uganda People Defense Forces (UPDF) officers backing and guarding Kiryandongo Sugar Company have this morning fired live bullets, arrested two community land rights defenders

By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – As Uganda begins a 32 day COVID – 19 Lockdown, multinational companies dispossessing more than 35000 natives off their land, have resorted to the use of

Deforestation. A man assembles firewood in Funve Central Reserve in Mazinga Sub-county, Kalangala District, on March 6. PHOTO BY SYLVESTER SSEMUGENYI  Daniel Kaliisa, 45, is a charcoal burner and a resident of Mawaala Landing

By Frontline Defenders Land rights defenders Godfrey Ssebisolo, Erias Wanjala and Fred Mwawula reported that on 12 March their houses, located in Kisalanda village, were bulldozed by Great Season Company Limited. The defenders further

On the spot. The Former Minister for Presidency, Ms Masiko Kabakumba. Ms Kabakumba has been tasked to avail evidence that she completed the payment of 690 acres of land. FILE PHOTO  Former minister for

A look of anguish covers their faces, some break down in tears as they reminisce the events that led to their forceful eviction from a 13-square-mile chunk of land in Kiryandongo district. The evictions

By witnessradio.org Team   Mubende – Kampala – Trial judge Anthony Oyuko Ojok in the matter of the 28 land rights defenders has put all the accused on defense after prosecution closed its case

Defenders speaking to one of their lawyers after they were released. By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – Kiryandongo Magistrate court has bowed down to intense public pressure and released on bail three (3) land

NAKASONGOLA- President Museveni has defended his recent directive to degazette  Kyalubanga Central Forest Reserve in Nakasongola District  to allow sitting households settle peacefully . The eight- square mile forest reserve stretches to four sub-counties including

Beatrice Anywar the State Minister for Environment on left engages a technocrat after submitting. President Yoweri Museveni has issued a directive for the entire Bugoma Forest in western Uganda to be mapped. This was

On 25 February 2020, land rights defenders Godfrey Ssebisolo, Erias Wanjala and Fred Mwawula were arrested by Kiryandongo police. They were later transferred to Dyanga prison in Kiryandongo district, where they have been subjected

“Trapped in the Buffer Zone: Uganda Forest Communities Cast Aside in the Fight Against Climate Change” …For decades, hundreds of people provided for themselves from these gardens and other resources obtained from the forest,

Ojuk Livingstone, the one who’s sued. By witnessradio.org Team   Mubende – Uganda – Ojuk Livingstone, a police Officer attached to Mubende district Police, also an Investigating Officer (IO) in matter of 28 land

Government has been dragged to court over alleged trespass on private land measuring 172 acres in Kireka in Kampala and Wakiso districts belonging to Kireka Estates Limited. In a suit filed by BBM Advocates and

Our challenges against the vicious attacks on Indigenous People’s Human Rights Defenders (IPHRDs) endure. Indigenous Lumad sanctuaries attacked by state-sponsored tribal paramilitaries, Wet’suwet’en land defenders arrested for defending their territories, and the list of Indigenous leaders,

The Chairperson of Uganda Land Commission, Hon. Beatrice Byenkya, addressing the media at Uganda Media Centre on Sustainable Land Management in Uganda. PHOTO via @UgandaMediaCent Kampala, Uganda | Government officials are at the centre of

By witnessradio.org Team   Uganda| Kiryandongo – Barely days after suing the Great Season company, Kiryandongo district Police commander Joseph Bakaleke, Attorney General and others, arrested three (3) land rights defenders and sent them

By witnessradio.org Team  Kiryandongo – Uganda – Janat Akello, a mother of 7 children has finally lost her only standing and precious house, belongings scattered while others destroyed by a tractor that descended on

Helpless. Family members in front of their grass-thatched hut that faces demolition in Kiryandongo District last Wednesday. PHOTO BY BILL OKETCH  More than 35,000 people from 20 villages are homeless after being evicted from

By witnessradio.org Team Tears, hopelessness and pain is what fills the hearts of over 30,000 people that are being evicted by three private firms in Kiryandongo. The said land formerly hosting government ranches was

By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – after seven days of illegal detention at Kiryandongo police station, the three land rights defenders have now been charged with trespassing on land which they have lawfully occupied

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – A court assessor in the criminal trial of the 28 land rights defenders has been attacked and dumped few kilometers away from the court where the trial

The affected residents at Kaberamaido District Headquarters.  Kaberamaido, Uganda  | Over 350 households in Alwa Sub County, Kaberamaido district are bickering with National Forestry Authority over land in Atigo Forest Reserve.  Since Wednesday, different groups

By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – with the backing of Kiryandongo district police, Great Season Company, owned by Sudan nationals based in Dubai have illegally arrested and detained three community land rights

By witnessradio.org Team   An agribusiness company supported by the governments of the UK, US and the Netherlands is pushing ahead with a land grab that will displace thousands of families in Uganda.   

Government has cancelled three titles awarded to Buganda Kingdom Princess, Faridah Namusisi Naluwembe Namirembe alias Bwanga Bwamirembe on Makerere University land.   The titles are for plots 14 and 45 on block 253 Kyadondo

State prosecutor Birivumbuka Richard By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – Barely two weeks after Mubende district resident Judge Justice Joseph Murangira has been transferred, a senior state prosecutor Birivumbuka Richard in the matter

Justice Oyuko Anthony Ojok By witnessradio.org Team   Mubende – Uganda – the trial judge in the case of the 28 land rights defenders, currently under criminal trial, has threatened to make the work

Photo: One of the residents’ house that was demolished By witnessradio.org Team   Kiryandongo – Uganda – with the backing of Kiryandongo district police, Great Season Company, owned by the South Sudan nationals is

Members of Parliament on the committee of Physical Infrastructure have asked the Ministry of Lands to avail a report on how the Land Fund was spent in the 2018/2019 financial year. Led by Kasilo

Dialogue. Some of the beneficiaries on Block 125 Plot 18 to 23 land at Ddagala in Kalungi Sub-county attend a sensitisation meeting on Tuesday. PHOTO BY DAN WANDERA At least 1,300 families in Nakasongola

By witnessradio.org Team Hoima – Uganda – more than 600 families that were forcefully and violently evicted from Kyabisagazi II village in Hoima district, were evicted illegally said a Parliamentary select committee that investigated

By URN The National Oil Palm Project has taken over the management, expansion and cultivation of Palm Oil growing across the country. The Project takes over from the Vegetable Oil Development Project, which has

Ms Betty Amongi, the outgoing Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development   KAMPALA- The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development needs at least Shs140 billion to compensate absentee landlords and to implement presidential

Unknown to Makerere, he disposed of the lease interest to Rutungu Investments Limited linked to businessman Ben Kavuya, contrary to the lease agreement. And the plunder is not yet over. Most of the university

The Aswa ranch believed to be the biggest in East Africa is keeping over 1,800 improved breeds of cows like Jazze and Ankole and is expected to produce more Kampala, Uganda | Concerned political

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – the trial Judge in the matter of the 28 land rights defenders has overruled an application by the defense lawyers seeking to block the trial within a

By witnessradio.org Team Virtually three weeks after an abrupt break, the criminal trial for the 28 land rights defenders is resuming today, January 8th, 2020 at Mubende High Court before the visiting judge Justice

At least 394,000 land titles will be affected by the temporary closure of Ministry of Lands Wakiso zonal offices. The Minister of State for Lands Hon Persis Namuganza told the press on Friday that

Stranded. Eviction residents prepare a meal at a temporary settlement in Abim District on Friday. PHOTO SIMON PETER EMWAMU   More than 10,000 people have been evicted from three villages said to be part

By witnessradio.org Team Kampala – Uganda – One of the five Plaintiffs in the Civil Suit No 2563 of 2016 (former No 179 of 2002) against Kaweeri coffee plantation and Attorney General over illegal

By witnessradio.org Team Kampala – Uganda – One of five plaintiffs in the Civil Suit No. 2563 of 2016 (former No. 179 of 2002) against Kaweeri coffee plantation and Attorney General over illegal and

By witnessradio.org Team Kampala – Uganda – Victims of the Kaweeri coffee forceful eviction will meet this Thursday to decide on whether to agree on the out of court settlement or not. This comes

The climate emergency is real. So how is it possible that those who have protected and still protect the Earth are being falsely accused of crimes and locked up in prison? Indigenous Peoples and local communities

Kyabisagazi village in Hoima district where over 600 families were evicted this year By witnessradio.org Team Hoima – Uganda – After years of despair and failure for state organs to protect native land owners,

By witnessradio.org Team Kampala – Uganda – Government has asked for more time to make a final decision on compensating victims of the Kaweeri forceful eviction. This happens following a court session held today

By witnessradio.org Team The re-trial of a 19-year-old Kaweeri Coffee land grabbing case resumes early this December 2019. Human rights groups have released a disturbing report which shows that Kaweeri Coffee evictees have suffered

After twenty years of negotiations, the European Union is in the process of advancing one of the world’s largest free trade agreements with four states of Mercosur. The planned agreement suggests a political path that

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – As a criminal trial for the 28 land rights defenders enters its 15th day, trial judge Justice Anthony Oyuk Ojok has ordered Mubende district police to investigate

Judge Joseph Murangira PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA. By witnessradio.org Team Barely three months after he recused himself from a case involving 28 land rights defenders over bias, Mubende resident judge, Joseph Murangira is in the

African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The African Development Bank (AfDB) will not fund a coal-fired power plant project in Kenya and has no plans to finance new coal plants

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – More than 50 witnesses have been lined up to testify in a 30 day-long trial of 28 land rights defenders, which kicked off on November 11th, 2019.

Justice Anthony Oyuk Ojoko. By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – the criminal Trial for the jailed 28 land rights defenders has kicked off today at Mubende high court circuit in a special criminal

Kampala, Uganda | The fate of numerous pending complaints filed at the Land Commission of Inquiry for investigations hang in balance as the tenure of the Commission ends. The Commission of Inquiry into land matters

Justice Catherine Bamugemereire addressing journalists in Kampala on November 8, 2019. PHOTO BY RUTH ANDERAH  The commission of inquiry into land matters chaired by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire has closed its public hearings today (November

MP Anthony Ssemuli (left) and LCV Chairperson Kibuuka Francis Amooti (right) By witnessradio.org Team Two Mubende district leaders have joined the campaign seeking to disqualify prosecutor Birivumbuka Richard from the case against 28 land

Inspection. Mutungo Zone II chairperson Adam Kibuuka (left) stresses a point to Justice Catherine Bamugemereire (in white jacket) and land commissioners during a field tour of Mutungo Hill in February. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA

By witnessradio.org Team Kampala – Uganda – Witnessradio.org has petitioned the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) calling for investigations into the continued aiding of persecution of community land rights defenders and native land-owners. Witnessradio.org,

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – As the criminal trial for 28 land rights defenders is rescheduled to Monday, November, 11th, 2019, defense lawyers have applied for the disqualification of state prosecutor Birivumbuka Richard

By witnessradio.org Team Masindi – Uganda – A case in which over 2300 families are accusing a multi-million agribusiness Agilis Partners limited of illegal eviction has been saved by the intervention of witnessradio.org‘s lawyers.

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – Prosecution in the case in which 28 land rights defenders has so far failed to make full disclosure of evidence-  to the defense lawyers citing copier breakdown. On

By Witnessradio.org Team In a civil suit filed in a French court, six Non -Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have accused Total over its oil drilling project in Uganda saying the French energy giant has failed

A total of 1,000 families of Amujaju Village, Kabarwa Sub-county in Bukedea District, are crying for help after they were allegedly evicted from their ancestral land by State House officials. The families that are

The Commission of Inquiry into land matters has canceled the land title belonging to police spokesperson Fred Enanga and his father George Econga Okabo, a retired superintendent of police because it is shrouded in

Esther Turyahebwa enters her hut in Kijayo IDP camp, Kikuube District. PHOTO BY FRANCIS JJINGO  By Francis Jjingo It is around 4pm when my cameraman and I arrive at Kijayo internally displaced peoples’ camp

Some of the 28 land rights defenders in court By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – Prosecution in the case in which 28 land rights defenders who are accused of murder yesterday partially disclosed evidence

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda – After a year of detention without trial, the 28 land rights defenders have appeared on Friday, the 11th/10/2019 before High Court judge  Anthony Oyuko Ojoko and denied

Lawyer Eron Kiiza By witnessradio.org Team Mubende – Uganda: Eron Kiiza, the lead counsel, for the 28 jailed land rights defenders was on Thursday briefly detained at Kaweeri government Prison. The arrest stemmed from

Squatters on the land in Lusanja have appealed against the High Court’s decision that ordered them to vacate it within 30 days following a successful suit by businessman Medard Kiconco. Through their lawyers of

By witnessradio.org Team Masindi – For the second time, in a row, the High Court in the western town of Masindi has declined to stop Agilis Partners limited, a multi-million agribusiness company from forcefully

By witnessradio.org Team Virtually one year of being detained, without trial, 28 land rights defenders are now set the face the court of law this very month. October, 10, 2019, has been listed by

On the ground. President Museveni addresses residents of Sekanyonyi-Lusanja in Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso District on October 16, 2018. PHOTO BY EPHRAIM KASOZI.  The long awaited judgment for the Lusanja land case has been

Project. An irrigation scheme in northern Uganda. Residents of Atiak Sub-county in Amuru District have rejected a Shs70b irrigation system, claiming it is a ploy to grab their land. FILE PHOTO  A project undertaken

File photo: Evelyn Anite  Kampala, Uganda | State Minister for privatization and Investment Evelyn Anite has said that a number of fake investors are being aided by middlemen and land brokers to grab land

Processing of local rice by a women’s cooperative in Dioro, Mali. Photo: FAO/Michela Paganini The convergence of the climate crisis and rising food imports in Africa is a recipe for catastrophe. Unless actions are

By witnessradio.org Team Kampala/Mubende – Justice Joseph Murangira is the complainant in the case in which city lawyer Eron Kiiza is accused of libel at the Criminal Investigations (CID).  For weeks, Kiiza who is

By witnessradio.org Team Masindi – High Court in Masindi on October 2nd, will deliver a ruling on a temporary injunction application seeking to stop a multi-million agribusiness company from forcefully evicting over 2300 families.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE On August 18, 2001, the Ugandan army violently expelled over 400 local peasant families – 2,041 inhabitants – from their land in Mubende districts in the villages of Kitemba, Luwunga,

A team of lawyers representing Attorney Eron Kiiza. By witnessradio.org Team Kampala/Mubende – The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Uganda police has so far developed a cold foot when tasked to disclose a complainant

By witnessradio.org Team Kampala – Uganda police has issued criminal summons against Human Rights Lawyer Eron Kiiza. Kiiza who is currently representing 3000 victims of land grabs in Mubende district and the 28 land

Chinese agricultural investments in Africa have sparked fierce controversy, excoriated as colonial plunder or hailed as productive and beneficial to local farmers. But the picture here in Luwero, Uganda, 50 miles north of the capital,

A planned disbursement of SEK 10 million by the Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) for emissions reductions produced by the Kachung plantation in Uganda, owned by the Norwegian company Green Resources, has been delayed due

NEMA Executive Director Tom Okia Okurut The exercise will pave way for resettlement of 48 villages that were evicted by National Forestry Authority in 1998, the authority said. BUSOGA – National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)

Photo was taken by Fian International By witnessradio.org Team  People from across the world are calling on Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni and Neumann Coffee Group CEO Christian Neumann to fully compensate displaced people from

Courtesy Photo By witnessradio.org Team In defiance of a court order, a Catholic Church priest and five other people have been charged with murder, in a Grade one court found in the central district

By witnessradio.org Team Mityana district police headed by Mwine Alex Mukono has defied court orders to release a community land rights defender and five (5) others that have been held in its cells for

By witnessradio.org Team Mityana district – A Chief Magistrate Court has ordered Mityana police headed by Maine Alex Mukono to unconditionally release six (6) people who have been held in police custody since 7th

KAMPALA- The chairperson of Jinja District Land Board, Ms Innocent Ngobi Ndiku, and the Jinja land officer, Mr Fred Waiswa, have named Jinja Municipality West Member of Parliament Moses Balyeku among those they claimed peddled

By witnessradio.org Team witnessradio.org lawyers have sued Mityana district police commanders Mwine Alex Mukono and the attorney general for illegally and unlawfully detaining community land rights defenders plus five other people for over 14

The National Forestry Authority has recovered about 100 hectares of land from encroachers in Mabira forest. Tom Rukundo the director forest management in NFA reveals that 50 hectares of the recovered land has been

The Equal Opportunities Commission has directed the Government to resettle the Banyabindi community, a minority ethnic group in Kasese District. Members of the ethnic group petitioned the commission in 2017, alleging they are denied

By witnessradio.org Team The Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) in Mityana Municipality is at the centre of a land altercation in which it’s dislodging an elderly a widow together with her family from the

Ms Nancy Oryema, appears before the land probe team, over the 6,500 acres of family land allegedly grabbed by Maj Gen Charles Otema and others at large in Nwoya District. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA 

By witnessradio.org Team  Having suffered for approximately 18-years, inhabitants evicted from their land by Kaweeri Coffee Plantation limited in the Central District of Mubende have settled for compensation as a court guided mediation process

Intervention. Ms Susan Abbo, the presidential assistant in-charge of land and legal affairs at State House, addresses tenants at a stakeholder meeting in Bugaayo Village, Kalagala Sub-county in Luweero District at the weekend. PHOTO

By witnessradio.org Team Five people including an entire village leadership have been arrested by police in Mityana district after the murder of Mulinde Kamada Kimbugwe who was passing off as a landlord. Those arrested

Grace Anyang, 32, bundles a pile of freshly cut wood tied using grass neatly knotted for a rope. She is a South Sudanese refugee residing at Pagirinya Refugee Settlement Camp in Adjumani District. The

By witnessradio.org Team   A court in Mityana district has jailed three community land defenders including local council chairperson on charges of attempted murder however, their imprisonment is linked to their involvement in defending

Kampala, Uganda | The administrator of the contested land in Lusanja Wakiso District has denied selling the land to its claimants. Paul Katabazi Bitarabeho told court that his sister; Chrispa Bitarabeho illegally sold off

The overlapping crises of climate change, mass species extinction, and an unsustainable global food system are on a collision course towards what might best be called an ecological land grab. Coping with each of

Almost eighteen years after the evictees were expelled from their lands, the court has finally ordered a mediation until 28 August 2019. We urge you to support the evictees’ demands for the full restitution

By CISSY MAKUMBI At least 2,100 people, who were forced to leave their villages and camped at Juka Trading Centre in Apaa Parish following clashes between the Madi and the Acholi, have urged government

KAMPALA – Judicial officers want soldiers to be barred from carrying out evictions in the country. They also recommend that the role of police should be limited to observing evictions in addition to keeping law

IMA, PERU — MORE THAN three environmental activists were murdered around the world each week last year, according to a new human rights report. Most of them were indigenous or rural campaigners trying to protect

By Witnessradio.org Team Days after Mubende High Court resident Judge Joseph Murangira recused himself from the matter against 28 human rights defenders, Court will tomorrow sit to determine whether to pass an injunction stopping

By witnessradio.org Team Mubende district resident Judge Joseph Murangira has recused himself from a hearing case involving 28 land rights defenders among others. The 28 human rights defenders were arrested and charged with nine

by Helen Castell As China’s government pledges to help funnel more aid, development finance and private-sector capital into African agriculture, what’s motivating the flow and is it having a positive impact? The flow of

The Peoples Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) demands the members of the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) to stop funding projects especially of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that result to landgrabbing

A human rights lawyer and activist, Eron Kiiza has come under fire for allegedly writing offensive Facebook posts against the Mubende resident judge, Joseph Murangira.Uganda Law Society (ULS) a body charged with ensuring high

By witnessradio.org Team The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has announced that its investigating Mubende High Court justice Joseph Murangira over his conduct. The development stems from a complaint filed by Mr.  Ronald Mugwambya and

By witnessradio.org Team Human Rights Lawyers representing over 3000 people challenging their illegal eviction from five villages in Mubende district have protested the manner in which High Court judge Joseph Murangira is conducting this

About 500 families in Kasanje Village, Kyesiiga Sub-county in Masaka District face an uncertain future after a court on Friday ordered their eviction from a 350-acre piece of land, Chimp Corps report.  In his ruling, Masaka

FILE PHOTO: The Bamugemereire commission on land Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Emotions and tears filled Nakapiripirit district council hall when residents who reportedly lost land to government and Moroto Catholic Diocese broke their

FILE PHOTO: Chief Justice, Bart Katureebe Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Chief Justice, Bart Katureebe has tasked Justice Joseph Murangira to respond to the allegations of bias leveled against him by more than

Drama ensued at Mubende High Court on Thursday as Justice Joseph Murangira’s bodyguard assumed his boss’ position to preside over court. On Thursday, the 11th of July 2019, the court presided over by Justice

Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago (right) addressing Lusanja land eviction victims on July 10, 2019 as other Opposition leaders, including Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine look on. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI

By witnessradio.org Team Three land rights defenders who went missing from Kaweeri prison in Mubende district four (4) days ago have been found being detained in different remote prisons, some outside the jurisdiction the

Surveying. A government surveyor measures a piece of land in Busamuzi Sub-county, Buvuma District, last year. PHOTO BY DENNIS SSEBWAMI  KAMPALA. The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has set a target to register

By witnessradio.org team Victims of the Kambuye land evictions in Mubende municipality, Mubende district have filed a civil suit before Mubende High court seeking compensation and an order to have them back to the land in contention. The

By witnessradio.0rg Team Three people who were arrested in connection to Land evictions in Kambuye have gone missing. They include Grace Nantubiro, Ronald Mugwanya, and Focus Mugisha. These are part of the group of 28

Mr Patrick Mulindwa a former legislator of Kasambya County, Mubende District, addresses residents at Kyampisi Trading Centre at the weekend. PHOTO BY JOSEPHINE NNABBAALE  Mubende. The National Forest Authority (NFA) has ordered more than 1,000

Heads. Chief Justice Bart Katureebe greets the Luweero Resident District Commissioner, Ms Pheobe Namulindwa, in Luweero Town Council last week. Photo by Dan Wandera  Luweero. The Judiciary has started educating and training village chairpersons in

By TOM MALABA Kampala. The Lands ministry has cancelled a land title on Plot 1038, Block 195, in Kyanja, a Kampala suburb, and reinstated Ms Joyce Akello as the owner. The decision comes in the

By witnessradio.org Team A new report from the Coalition for Human Rights in Development and the Defenders in Development Campaign reveals the alarming impact, ill-planned investments in infrastructure, energy, and other development activities are

By witnessradio.org Team Tough times are ahead for native land owners in Uganda. This is the case because land grabbers are changing tactics from forceful eviction with the aide of state machinery  to conspiracy

KAMPALA. President Museveni has ordered the National Forestry Authority (NFA) to find at least four acres of land at its headquarters in Bugolobi for giveaway to an investor, Daily Monitor has learnt. Sources told Daily

By witnessradio.org Team A group of about 2300 native families from Kiryandongo District who want court to issue an injunction halting their impending eviction will be in at the Masindi High Court again on

By witnessradio.org Team Over 600 families in Kayunga district are facing eviction by gun wielding men yet to be identified. The affected families sit on public land in Gariraaya, Bbaale Kitimbwa and Kayonza sub counties. This was

The new Uganda Land Commission chairperson Beatrice Byenkya Nyakaisiki has said that the government has failed to survey and title most of its land. Byenkya was on Monday speaking to journalists after appearing before

KAMPALA: The land acquisition process for the establishment of Mandela National Stadium, Namboole was marred by fraud, witnesses have today told the Commission of inquiry into Land matters. They said that instead of compensating

Dr Chris Baryomunsi  The guidelines highlight the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants with regard to evictions of lawful and bonafide occupants. The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has finalised draft

By witnessradio.org Team Four people have been injured and property worth millions of shillings destroyed in a fresh attack on residents in Bukoba, Nalutuntu in Kassanda district. The attack on residents happened on land

By witnessradio.org Gertrude Njuba, is a State House official charged with solving land wrangles but instead it’s seems she is now part of this problem that has engulfed the country. One of the assignments,

By TOM MALABA Kampala- Established sugar companies have been cited as being behind the illegal titling of land in Bajjo and Wamale forest reserves in Bbale Sub-county in Kayunga District. While appearing before the Justice

By witnessradio.org Team Five community leaders have been arrested bringing to 13 in total number of people detained by police in connection to defending their 600 acres of land in Gomba district. On April, 17th,

By James Kabengwa Kampala. Kabaka Ronald Mutebi II has, in his 2019 Easter message, criticised ‘those in power who misuse authority to trample on the freedoms of citizens in Uganda. He cited illegal land evictions

By witnessradio.org Team Seven community land rights defenders including an elderly woman have been arrested by police in Gomba district on grounds of murder and aggravated robbery. This follows a fight between communities defending

By JULIUS OCUNGI AMURU/ADJUMANI. Government has ordered businessmen and residents to stop operating in Apaa Market, one of the markets sitting on the disputed Apaa land bordering Amuru and Adjumani districts. The market brings together

By EPHRAIM KASOZI KAMPALA. Court has halted destruction of Buto-Buvuma Central Forest Reserve in Mpigi District until the appeal by the National Forestry Authority (NFA) has been heard and disposed of. In 2017, five people

By ROBERT MUHEREZA KABALE. The High Court in Kabale has issued an interim order restraining Kabale Municipal Council and its agents from evicting, registering vendors, relocating traders and demolishing Kabale Central Market to pave

By DAN WANDERA KAMPALA. President Museveni yesterday tasked MPs to expedite amendment to land act and demanded that a new clause be introduced to allow bibanja owners to deposit nominal ground rates (busuulu) at the

By witnessradio.org Team A mother of 8 children whose husband was kidnapped by agents of tree planting company is struggling to feed her children and raise school frees. Since the family land was grab

By witnessradio.org Team Thousands of native families in Kiryandongo district are facing violent and forceful eviction by Agilis Partners from a piece of land they have occupied for decades. The situation worsened after the

By witnessradio.org Team 15 outspoken natives who have been mobilising fellow peers to resist an illegal and violent eviction targeting their land are facing persecution from Kiryandongo district security committee. The persecution is meant

By witnessradio.org Team Hearing of a case in which over 10,000 former Park Yard vendors accuse city Tycoon Hamis Kiggundu of violently and illegally evicting them, has not takeoff because the presiding judge Lydia

By witnessradio.org Team A case in which over 10,000 traders lost merchandise worth billions of Uganda shillings in an arbitrary and violent eviction at Nakivubo Park-yard Market has been scheduled for hearing at the

By witnessradio.org Team As the World Bank’s 20th Annual Land and Poverty Conference gets underway, the Oakland Institute is urging the World Bank to immediately put an end to the bank’s attack on land

By FRANKLIN DRAKU Kampala. Government has declared that land owners will have no option of rejecting compulsory land acquisition in the proposed Land Acquisition Bill. This gives government a free hand to acquire land where

By witnessradio.org Team Respect for rule of law is at stake in Uganda as court orders are not anymore powerful enough to stop land evictions, witnessradio.org can reveal. Mubende district in particular is singled

By witnessradio.org and agencies Patrick Lwanga Zizinga, 52 a resident of Makandwa Kajjansi Wakiso district was only nine years old when his father died in 1976. Little did he predict a ravaging land wrangle

Businessman Medard Kiconco wanted the court to issue an interim order against the Lusanja residents, stopping them from reconstructing houses on the disputed land. The High Court has declined to halt the ongoing reconstruction of

By witnessradio.org Team The speaker of Parliament  Rebecca Kadaga has constituted a 30 – member committee to investigate the authenticity of a land title which was used to forcefully evict over 3000 inhabitants in

By witnessradio.org  Team A case in which Kaweeri Coffee Plantation Limited is accused of dispossessing 11.6 square mile piece of land for over 2000 inhabitants in Mubende district for a coffee plantation and factory

Global Witness celebrates significant agreement and shift in mind-set from the EU on investor due diligence Thursday 7th March 2019 – The European Parliament and Council have today reached a provisional political agreement on

By witnessradio.org Team One of Uganda’s oldest forced eviction cases in which Kaweeri Coffee Plantation limited is accused of dispossessing land for over 2000 inhabitants is coming back in courtroom, now to hear a

Apaa land crisis is back in the news yet again with tens of lives lost, hundreds of huts burnt and thousands of people forced into internally displaced people’s camps (IDPCs). The trend of events

By witnessradio.org Team Today, the 13th day of February, 2019 is the 85th day since witnessradio.org‘s Nantubiro Grace, Volunteer Mugwabya Ronald and other 26 community land defenders were charged and remanded to different prisons

Many Ugandans born before the 1990s must have learnt in school that the country’s economy mainly relied on three Cs – coffee, cotton and copper. This was due to the fact that our forefathers

The minister for defence and veteran affairs Adolf Mwesige has stopped the eviction of over 4000 people from the two sub counties of Katebwa and Kisomoro in Bunyangabu district. More than 4000 residents from

Stranded. Locals camp at Juka Trading Centre after being attacked from the villages of Goro B and Juka in Apaa Parish on Wednesday. PHOTO BY TOBBIAS OWINY By JULIUS OCUNGI & TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY

By witnessradio.org Team High Court in Mubende has denied witnessradio.org staff and a land defender bail and has set late February as timeline to start hearing the case.   witnessradio.org‘s Nantubiro Grace and Mugwabya

Kampala-Mubende, 19th/01/2019; witnessradio.org, a civil society organisation advocating for natives’ land rights has petitioned the office of the Inspector General of Police and Police’s Professional Standards Unit, calling for independent investigations into the role

FILE PHOTO: Dr Chris Baryomunsi Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The State Minister for Housing, Dr Chris Baryomunsi has said government is willing to negotiate with former Nakawa-Naguru estate tenants. Baryomunsi said the tenants

FILE PHOTO: Eng Andrew Kitaka Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Acting Kampala Capital City Executive Director, Eng Andrew Kitaka has said over 20,000 land titles in Kampala have not been digitalised in the

By witnessradio.org Team Faded hope: over 1500 Families that were part of 2,300 violently evicted and their land was dispossessed by Agilis Partners limited, cannot find resettlement as their new home is now Internally

Joy. A section of the beneficiaries of the 300 mailo land titles dance after receiving their respective titles at Kirema Primary School in Nakaseke District on Saturday.  NAKASEKE. President Museveni has handed more than 300

By witnessradio.org Team A magistrate court in Mubende district has charged witnessradio.org‘s member Nantubiro Grace with murder and aggravated robbery before being remanded to Kaweeri prison. Nantubiro who’s the in-charge of civic engagement and

Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda greets Chris Baryomunsi who represented the Lands minister Betty Amongi at Gulu state lodge on December 7. Looking on is Ms Grace Kwiyucwiny, Northen Uganda State Minister. PHOTO BY

By witnessradio.org Team Barely two weeks after seven (7) community land defenders were sentenced to a 34-year jail term by Mubende High court, another group of 16 community land defenders that have been defending

Kampala. The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters has directed for a fresh boundary opening on various plots of land on Block 185 in Namavundu, Namugongo to establish the right owner of the contested land.

The Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into land matters, Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, at one of the public hearings. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA The High Court has quashed the order by the Commission of

Kampala. The High Court has ordered Ham Enterprises Limited and the Attorney General (AG) to submit their original building plans for the redevelopment of Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium. Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the

By witnessradio.org Team Access to land justice in Uganda is a nightmare as judiciary is admitting its limited capacity to handle overwhelming land cases filed in court each new day. Since 2007/8 financial crisis,

In one of the most heart-rending revelations, a senior registrar of titles at the ministry of Lands, has admitted masterminding a fraudulent land transaction in which she created and issued a fake special certificate

By witnessradio.org Team Key members of Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) are being targeted and used by land speculators and grabbers to frame frontline land defenders with criminal charges to harass, intimidate with

Kampala. At least 40.8 per cent of Karamoja land has been gazzetted for conservation by government and locals restricted from using it optimally, a human rights report has revealed. The report on “extractive industries, land

By witnessradio.org/farmlandgrab.org The World Bank Group between 2006 and 2016, has directly funded at least 14 large land deals spanning at least 900,000 hectares and provided securities financing to over 700,000 more in Africa,

By witnessradio.org team Clouds of darkness hit Mubende courtroom at 1PM on November 23rd and turned into a grieving moment for families of the 5 community land rights defenders who had gone to receive

By witnessradio.org Team The long-awaited case in which bonafide occupants of Kaweeri Coffee Plantation land demand reinstatement and compensation for illegal and violent land eviction has been fixed for hearing on 11th March 2019

By witnessradio.org team The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) of the UN General Assembly has voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural

Kampala. The 500 families facing imminent eviction from land in Seeta–Miggo and Nkwale in Mityana District were not given an opportunity to buy the land for themselves or compensated before the family of the late

By witnessradio.org team Its a 3rd anniversary of no action since the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural and Social Rights (CESCR) called on the government of Uganda with immediate effect to ensure

Masaka. At least 700 residents in two villages in Kyesiiga Sub-county, Masaka District, have up to January to look for alternative land for settlement or else be evicted. The residents say they have settled on

Kampala. Rice farmers in Butaleja District have petitioned the Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters seeking to block prominent businessman Malik Koire, Mr Kadri Hifude and some police officers from utilising the contested land where

By witnessradio.org Team It was supposed to act as a guideline to what is accepted in society including recognizing land tenure systems, directing land access, ownership and land use. Twenty years down the road,