DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Civil Society Petitions U.S, British Governments Over Kiryandongo Evictions

Published

5 years ago

March 19, 2020

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 that started on Christmas day in 2017 have left more than 30,000 families homeless after three plantation farmers – Kiryandongo Sugar Ltd, Agilis Partners, and Great Seasons Ltd took ownership of land that the government had originally allocated to Nyamalebe Farmers Association.

“We have petitioned several government ministries and departments including Parliament, we have been to courts and State House but no one seems to care about our plight,” John Isingoma, the chairman of Nyamutende village told a group of rights activists that visited the area on March 12.

The activists were drawn from Food Rights Alliance, International Accountability Project, GRAIN and Witness Radio which taking the lead in pursuing a litigation process against the government and the investors whom they accuse of rights violations.

The land in question is part of the 37.8 square miles of land, originally registered under the Bunyoro Ranching Scheme but allocated to landless people in 1997 under the ranches restructuring program that began in 1990.

It is part of what was formerly registered as Nyamakere and Kibeka Central Forest Reserves.

According to a June 16, 2014 letter by the then State Minister for Environment, Flavia Nabugere to the Prime Minister, the decision to allocate the forest reserves to the landless people was reached after an assessment that proved that human settlement was a better option than having ranches along the River Nile Basin.

This was the position of the relevant government Ministries, Kiryandongo district local government and backed by a cabinet and Parliamentary approval especially after the government found the same land suitable for the resettlement of the 2011 Bududa landslide victims.

Behind the scenes, the district leadership entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kafu Sugar Ltd to take over the land for sugarcane growing.

The locals ran to the High Court in Masindi to the challenge the MOU and for an injunction to the activities of the sugarcane growers on the land.

The suit has remained in the court shelves while the Asian directors of Kafu Sugar Ltd incorporated another company in the names of Kiryandongo Sugar Ltd that went ahead with the sugarcane growing program.

MINISTERS FIGHT

Kiryandongo Sugar Ltd moved to take possession of the land after a November 16, 2017 letter by then Lands minister, Betty Amongi, addressed to the Kiryandongo district leadership, telling them that the Uganda Land Commission had allocated ranches numbers 23, 28, 29 and 30 to the sugarcane growers.

She reported that Museveni had approved the allocation while other private holders of the ranches had sold their stake to other investors.

Agilisi Partners from the Cayman Islands paid more than Shs 7.7 billion to take possession of 2600 hectares (four square miles) of land to cultivate simsim, soybean, and maize while another five square miles of land is held by a coffee-growing company, Great Seasons Ltd.

“In respect of the above, the resident district commissioner [RDC] and the district leadership are instructed to assist in all ways possible the owners of the specified ranches to amicably negotiate and settle any disputes with the legal tenants on the subject properties In accordance with the relevant land laws,” Amongi wrote.

Her letter was in protest of an earlier letter by the State Minister for Lands, Persis Namuganza that favoured the tenants against the interests of the investors.

“The issue of Kiryandongo ranches is before cabinet and His Excellency the President guided that a clear government program be drawn to come up with projects that will be established in these ranches, and also guided that all title [deeds] that were acquired on the same land be canceled, and those who purport to have bought [the land] be arrested because these are government ranches,” Namuganza’s November 7, 2017 letter to the Kiryandongo RDC partly reads.

Amongi told the Kiryandongo leaders to disregard Namuganza’s letter because it was “bound to cause legal suits” against the government.

While Namuganza relied on what transpired in the cabinet, Amongi acted upon Museveni’s July 17, 2017 letter in response to hers written on May 15, 2017, requesting for presidential approval to lease the Kiryandongo ranches to Kiryandongo Sugar Ltd.

REGRETS

What is so hurting for Joyce Bududu Tayebwa is that the evictions started a year after she had mobilized the locals to give Museveni a 100 percent score in the 2016 presidential elections.

“I feel ashamed that Museveni is doing this to us; it hurts me so much that for all this time, I have been working for NRM but Museveni found no difficulties in deploying his soldiers to inflict all sorts of atrocities on us,” a teary Badudu said.

Unlike others who were resettled on the land, Badudu was born here in 1975. Her mother, Stella Kamwoshe looked on as her daughter narrated their ordeal.

Kamwoshe now sleeps by the roadside under tarpaulin covers as she keeps watch over her herd of about 30 heads of cattle.

Attempts by the Kiryandongo district leaders to get her back on her land, and for her cattle to access her valley dam have not yielded any fruit.

“I blame Museveni for the scars on my body because it is him who sent the army to shoot at us, beat us, raze our homes and kill our animals,” Badudu said.

ONLINE CAMPAIGN

The CSOs led by Witness radio have in the meantime launched an online campaign urging the governments of the UK, Netherlands and the United States to freeze their support to the companies involved in the evictions over human rights violations.

The CSOs put the number of victims at more than 30,000 families that have suffered violations such as the use of excessive force, illegal arrest, and detention, harassment, intimidation, demolition of schools, worship centers and homes.

Source: The Witness

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3 land rights defenders charged with trespass, released on bail

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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

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

Published

5 days ago

July 21, 2025

witnessradio.org

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.

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

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

Published

1 week ago

July 16, 2025

witnessradio.org

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.

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

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

Published

3 months ago

April 30, 2025

witnessradio.org

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.