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,

By witnessradio.org team Lydia Nakawunde was only seven years when government evicted thousands of people 18 years ago to pave way for coffee growing by German-firm  Kaweeri coffee factory. Memories of men in Ugandan

ln a statement issued last week, the Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters blamed judicial officials for the rising cases of land evictions which have engulfed some parts of the country. The Judiciary reacted

By witnessradio.org Team The Finnish Development Finance Iinstitution (FINNFUND) is concerned about effects from its own financed carbon offset projects in Uganda that have negatively impacted on the local communities. FINNFUND is an investment

A group of 3,500 Bibanja holders in Kyankwanzi district, who are on the brink of eviction from a three-square mile land in three villages, have petitioned the land probe commission.  The probe has since

Kampala, Uganda | Uganda Land Commission-ULC is seeking policy direction to compensate the people affected by the East African crude oil pipeline construction. The 1400 kilometer crude oil pipeline worth US$ 3.55bilion is expected

By Charlie Mitchell  The UAE signed a deal with Uganda on Monday to establish one of the world’s only agricultural free zones in a bid to enhance food security in the Emirates.  The 2,500

Moroto. The Minister in-charge of Karamoja Affairs, Mr John Byabagambi, said he will arrest people grabbing land in Karamoja under the pretext of investment. Minister Byabagambi said the current land rush in Karamoja poses a

Mityana. The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters has halted the eviction of more than 2,000 families from four villages in two sub-counties in Mityana District pending investigations into ownership disputes. During a fact-finding

By witnessradio.org Team   The “UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas” was presented in the UN headquarters to the Third Committee of the General Assembly on

A Court of Appeal judge has in a no-holds-barred missive exposed the rot in courts and Judiciary, offered evidence on how judges connive with land grabbers, and lashed out at what she called the

The Kampala Catholic Archdiocese has strongly denied accusations that it’s trying to fraudulently take over Ntinda nursery and primary school land located in Ntinda in Nakawa division. The Universal Primary Education (UPE) school based

State Minister for Water Ronald Kibuule has been named before the land inquiry for backing eviction of hundreds of families from a 488-acre land comprising three villages in Nama Sub-county, Mukono District. Lawyer Peter

By D. Amari Jackson When it comes to our global climate, few would argue that growing more trees is a bad thing. After all, forests naturally soak up greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and

By witnessradio.org/  Land portal The first official results from an international survey of how secure people feel in their homes and on their land reveal that in the initial 15 countries surveyed, 25% of citizens are

By witnessradio.org Team A Norwegian plantation forestry and carbon offset company, Green Resources is being pinned for causing social, cultural, and environmental damage in two districts of Uganda that host its carbon projects. In