COVID-19 land evictions: Agilis Partners Evictees are being evicted again from their temporary shelter

About 100 evicted families camped at Alokolum Tecwaa Primary School while other families erected makeshift structures for their members

By witnessradio.org Team

Kiryandongo -Uganda – More than 100 families that are part of thousands of families evicted by Agilis Partners are facing fresh eviction from where they temporarily settled. The violent and forceful evictions by Agilis Partners limited, have seen affected communities losing everything they owned before.

In 2017 when Agilis Partners started illegal evictions with help of Kiryandongo police, evictees had nowhere to find an alternative land for settlement because Agilis Partners without prior and informed consent from communities and no valuation of properties was carried out.

About 100 evicted families camped at Alokolum Tecwaa Primary School. The school was forced to close down operations after a big percentage of their pupils dropped out school. The children were coming from the affected community.

Sources say that whereas several schools were demolished by Agilis Partners and agents including Kiryandongo police, Alokolum Tecwaa Primary School, owned by the Catholic Church, was indirectly affected by the eviction and closed indefinitely.

witnessradio.org investigations indicate that part of the 100 families occupied the empty classrooms while other families erected makeshift structures for their members on the same piece of land, of which now the church administration has directed all occupants to vacate before the end of the year.

“We noted that about seven families occupied school classrooms that existed at the time of eviction and partitioned them using polyethylene or tarpaulins to create a living room, bedrooms for both children and adults. This is how Agilis Partners Investors have reduced the lives of former land owners who had descent housing and enough food to eat before they were dispossessed” Said one of witnessradio.org‘s Researchers.

According to documents seen by witnessradio.org, the church administration accuse the community and lower level church leaders in the area for failing to run the offered primary school, thus it was taking back the land partly offered for school use and to concentrate on farm activities.

“We wish to ask you to vacate the land by the end of this planting season so as to allow the Church to re-organise itself for her planting activities next season” a letter to occupants reads in part.

However, non of the occupants have  anywhere to relocate to, witnessradio.org can confirm. Nyiranteziyalyo Hilalia, a mother of five (5) children said, her husband ran away from her shortly after evictions and she carries the daily burden of looking after the family and providing all basic necessities to her children.

Nyiranteziyalyo Hilalia and one of her 5 children

She added that the company forcefully took their land without compensation nor giving them an alternative land to settle and they were never allowed to pick anything from their former home.

“I have nowhere to grow food from instead I am hired as a casual laborer in people’s gardens to get food for my children. If the Church decides to evict us from the school which is the only shelter we have then, we shall go to the streets with my children” said emotional Nyiranteziyalyo