By Witness Radio team

As farmers are busy planting their garden fields during this rainy season in Uganda, the hopes for Kiryandongo smallholder farmers continue to dwindle as the multinational continues with forceful evictions and bars them from accessing their gardens for seven consecutive seasons since 2020.

They said in every planting season, the company employs private security guards from Saracen that are assisting the company’s employees to stop the smallholder farmers from planting their crops. This has contributed to food insecurity and poverty since the community had entirely been depending on subsistence farming as their main source of livelihood.

Jerusalem-Kisalanda is one of the villages in Kiryandongo district, Western Uganda, that have faced constant violent attacks and forced evictions from Agilis Partners Limited, a company owned by two American brothers and deals in the grains and seeds business.  The village is now in the middle of the Agilis farms.

Agilis Partners Limited, since 2017 has been carrying out forced evictions in the Kiryandongo district with the interest to pave way for large-scale industrial agriculture.

According to the affected villagers, since last week on Saturday the 11th of March, 2023, the company has employed both its employees and guards from a private security company, Saracen to frustrate any farming activity by community members on their land. The company accuses the people of illegally occupying the land.

Mr. Samuel Kusiima, a community land rights defender and one of those affected by the evictions, in an interview with Witness Radio Uganda, revealed that the maize and beans he has been planting get destroyed by the company, saying we are “encroaching on the company’s land.”

“These guards come at 6:00 am and leave late in the night, they say they are employed to keep the company garden, and cannot allow us to access our fields. They initially said they had given me 10 acres of my land but also the ten remain inaccessible. Over 10 families are at the edges of starvation.” The defender revealed.

He added, “We used to earn millions from our gardens but we are now starving and the company is profiteering from our misery. It does not care about us.”

“These guards are often violent and threaten to shoot us if we resist, last week they found my wife in the garden and threatened to shoot her. They always say they have orders to do whatever they want but we are tired of this” the defender further added.

Mr. Nkuzimana John, another victim, said he survives by the mercy of God since he has been victimized. He adds that there has never been any intervention from authorities and courts of law for the past seven seasons.

“Even when you report these incidents to authorities including police, there is no change or hope for a change. My family currently starves because I don’t have food to feed them. I cannot access the 50 acres of land that I had. The company told me to use a quarter of an acre of it last season, which is impossible. Last season I planted maize on two acres of my land but it was harvested by the company.” He said.

Currently, Sam and the rest of the community are living in abject poverty with no hope of recovering from it, a situation they claim has been brought by Agilis partners. “This has been ongoing since 2020. Even when we resist and continue to plant the crops, they either bring a tractor to plow our crops or spray them with chemicals. Do they want us to go steal to earn a living?” the defender questioned.

The community now, makes ends meet by being hired as laborers by neighboring communities, burning charcoal, and also surviving on handouts from their relatives and friends.

“We are collecting tree stems that are thrown by the Company. This is what we burn and get charcoal that we sell to earn a living. It is also not easy because sometimes we are prohibited from taking them, hence risking our lives. If not that, we ask for support from our relatives and friends or seek opportunities to be hired as laborers.” One of the Community members shared.

For the past five years, Kiryandongo has had a history of forced evictions by multinational companies. According to Witness Radio, over 35000 people have been evicted by three multinational companies which include, Agilis partners, Kiryandongo Sugar Company, and Great Seasons SMC all interested in carrying out large-scale plantation agriculture on the fertile lands of Kiryandongo.

When contacted for a comment on the abuses performed by Agilis partners, Mr. Emmanuel Onyango, the company’s Public Relations Officer told our reporter to write to him an email, for a better and easier response within a short period.

By the time of writing this story, Mr. Onyango had not yet responded to the email.

By Witness Radio team

The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has ordered over 500 families that were brutally evicted from Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties in Hoima district to be returned to their land.

In the wee hours of the 10th of February 2023, Waaki North, Kapapi Central, Waaki South, Runga, and Kiryatete villages in Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties were raided by a team of police officers backed by private guards and violently evicted people from their land.

The violent attack left over 500 families evicted some community members injured, houses torched, property worth millions destroyed, and animals looted. The affected residents have been pitching camp at Rwenyana Church in Kapapi whereas others are scattered in other areas staying with relatives.

Addressing a meeting in Rukola village Kapapi sub-county, in Hoima district attended by the victims of eviction, area leaders, police, and Resident District commissioner, and many others, Judith Nabakooba said the eviction was unlawful and was conducted at night, which is contrary to the law.

Nabakooba directed the security committee to allow the victims of the forced eviction to return to the land since they have nowhere to go, adding that the investigations into ownership of the land will continue.

David Karubanga, the Kigorobya county member of parliament wants the Hoima district security committee investigated for conniving with land grabbers and failing to protect the local communities.

James Kiriti, one of the victims told the minister that the evictions were orchestrated by the entire district security committee of Hoima that has been compromised by what he termed as “land grabbers” but they distanced themselves from enforcing the evictions, claiming they were unaware.

The residents who were evicted on two pieces of land are feuding over land with seven tycoons accusing them of using security forces to grab their land without following the due processes.

One piece of land is being grabbed by six people including Ndahura Gafayo, Aston Muhwezi, David Mpora, Monica Rwashadika, Agaba, and Wilber Kiza, and measures 1030 hectares while the other is being claimed by Moses Asimwe measuring three square miles.

“We only saw police and private security guards attached to magnum security group rounding up the village and started beating people, torching houses, and ordering us to leave our land where some of us have lived since birth. Our animals including cows and goats were also looted,” Mr. Mugume Deus, a father of twelve told Witness Radio Uganda.

Since 2020, the community members have been receiving violent threats of eviction leading to arbitrary arrests and detentions of over seven (7) villagers. They claim several members were kidnapped and driven to unknown destinations, and they have not been found.

The community claims that people targeting their land use the police and the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) to arrest and unscrupulously charge community members with false charges intended to force them out of the land.

In January 2022, 12 community members were arrested by police and charged with theft, criminal trespass, malicious damage, and threatening violence. They are currently on remand at Hoima government prison.

However, the alleged land grabbers want the communities to vacate the land claiming they are occupying it illegally.

By Witness Radio team.

Ugandan, Tanzanian and U.S.-based human rights and environmental groups have lodged a formal complaint alleging that Marsh is violating OECD guidelines for responsible business conduct by serving as insurance broker for the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The complainants are calling for Marsh to drop its insurance brokerage role for the EACOP.

Inclusive Development International and 10 human rights and environmental organizations in Uganda and Tanzania, which are remaining anonymous due to fear of reprisals, filed a complaint to the U.S. government today alleging that New York-based insurance giant Marsh, a member of the Marsh McLennan group, violated international guidelines for responsible business conduct by serving as insurance broker for the highly controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The groups submitted the complaint to the U.S. National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, an office within the U.S. State Department tasked with handling allegations against American companies.

Marsh is the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor. According to its website, it protects and promotes possibility, helping their clients to dream bigger, reach further and plan for the opportunities ahead.

“An insurance broker’s role is often invisible to the public, which allows them to avoid accountability, but Marsh deserves to be scrutinized,” said Coleen Scott, a legal and policy associate at Inclusive Development International. “Marsh is playing a critical role enabling the East African Crude Oil Pipeline to move forward in the face of widespread opposition and overwhelming evidence that the project will be a disaster for Ugandans and for the planet.”

The OECD Guidelines set out principles and standards for responsible business conduct across a range of issues, including human rights and the environment. These standards apply to multinational enterprises with operations or headquarters in OECD countries, including the United States. While the OECD guidelines are non-binding, they are an important and widely accepted international standard for ethical business conduct. The complainants are calling on the U.S. NCP to consider the allegations against Marsh and make recommendations to the insurance broker to bring its conduct in line with these standards. This is the first NCP complaint filed against an insurance broker anywhere in the world.

The complaint alleges that by providing insurance brokerage services, without which the EACOP could not move forward, Marsh is contributing to the serious harm that the project has already or is expected to cause, including, improper land acquisition processes characterized by failure to provide prompt and adequate compensation, intimidation, harassment, threats and arbitrary arrests of community members, environmental and human rights defenders, as well as journalists critical of the project and inadequate consultation with affected communities.

Other damages include; threats to natural resources relied upon by communities, including the risk of oil spills affecting vital freshwater resources such as Lake Victoria, which supports 40 million people, immense and irreversible harm to local ecosystems and habitats along the pipeline’s route, which passes through numerous protected wildlife areas in Uganda and Tanzania and increased carbon emissions that will tip the world closer to climate catastrophe.

Marsh’s failure to conduct adequate human rights and environmental due diligence before engaging on this project, and its ongoing contributions to its harmful impacts, constitute a breach of the company’s responsibilities under the OECD Guidelines, according to the complaint. The complainants are calling on Marsh to bring its operations back into alignment with the OECD Guidelines by withdrawing from its role as broker for the project and committing to abstain from offering brokerage services for the EACOP project in the future. Given the severity of the claims, the complainants suggest that Marsh should at minimum commit immediately to withhold its services until the complaint is resolved.

“Marsh’s website advertises its commitment to sustainability and ‘building a more resilient world’ but the company is actively contributing to a massive and irresponsible fossil fuel project that will have the opposite effect,” said one of the Ugandan complainants, who has chosen to remain anonymous for security reasons. “The EACOP project isn’t just a shortsighted investment in oil as the world is trying to transition to alternative fuels, it is also diverting resources away from renewable energy projects that Ugandans want and threatening natural resources and existing industries that we rely on.”

About EACOP

The EACOP would be the world’s biggest heated oil pipeline, stretching nearly 900 miles (1,443 kilometers) through the heart of East Africa. The project has already caused large-scale displacement of local communities and poses grave risks to protected environments, water sources and wetlands in both Uganda and Tanzania. Those include the Lake Victoria basin; which millions of people rely upon for drinking water and food production. If completed, it would also enable the extraction and transport of enough oil to generate over 34 million tons of CO2 emissions per year at peak production, exacerbating the ongoing climate emergency.

Since its inception, the project has faced opposition from affected communities along the pipeline route and their advocates, as well as the global #StopEACOP campaign that they built. For more on this, visit www.stopeacop.net.