By Witness Radio team.

As Ugandan courts increasingly become tools of oppression, Witness Radio is deeply concerned about the growing trend of weaponizing the justice systems against communities, land, and environmental defenders who resist land grabbing and other harmful land-based investments.

In a well-calculated tactic, land grabbers and investors continue to collude with security agencies, particularly the police, to arrest violently and courts of law to maliciously prosecute hundreds of these defenders for either fighting back against the land-grabbing schemes or criticizing harmful land-based investments in Uganda.

This trend of persecution is not isolated to Buvuma but is a continuous threat in many other parts of Uganda. Buvuma, in particular, is a hotbed of injustice, where the government of Uganda, in collaboration with BIDCO, is implementing the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP) to expand palm oil growing in Uganda.

In our article dated March 5th this year, Witness Radio revealed how community land defenders in Buvuma continued to face judicial harassment on trumped charges simply for defending their land from being grabbed for palm oil plantations.

The accused defenders are residents of the Magyo and Bukula villages in the Buvuma district.

More than a dozen smallholder farmers in these villages situated in Nairambi Sub-county are facing violent evictions from their land and unending persecution. They have been framed with criminal charges for refusing to give away their land for palm oil growing.

The victims are legal owners of bibanja duly registered by Buganda Land Board and recognized as tenants by Buganda Land Board.

Buvuma College school is claiming ownership of the land, while Buvuma district officials, under the guise of protecting Kirigye Forest Reserve, also claim the same land on which these individuals have settled lawfully for decades.

Several community members have been arrested and charged with false criminal offenses.

Among them include community land rights defender Ssentongo, who is currently battling with cases CRB:301/2023, accused of illegally occupying Kirigye forest land (offense of carrying out prohibited activities in forest reserve).

CRB 232/2024 with complainant Kabale Denis (District Forest Officer) charged with carrying out prohibited activities in the forest reserve and CRB 098/2023 on criminal trespass with Buvuma College administration, the complainant.

Others facing persecution are Steven Kyeswa, Kisekwa Richard, and Kibondwe Chrysostom on CRB 141/2024 with assault occasioning actual bodily harm vide Criminal Case No 075 of 2024, among other cases.

As part of efforts to end the ongoing oppression of community defenders in Buvuma, Witness Radio has petitioned the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to urgently intervene, review, and withdraw the charges unjustly brought against these defenders.

According to the petition dated March 7th, 2025, the sole intention of these charges is to grab community land without any merits as criminal charges. Sarah Adong, one of the staff attorneys and Head of Witness Radio Legal Aid, reveals that the matters against the accused persons before the court point to the question of land ownership, which can only be answered through civil suits and not criminal charges. It is an apparent injustice.

“Upon thoroughly examining the facts, evidence, and circumstances surrounding these charges, it is evident that they have no merit whatsoever. They amount to vexatious and frivolous prosecution that serves no genuine interest of justice,” the petition by the Land and Environmental Rights Watchdog mentioned.

In an unusual turn of events, the Witness Radio Legal Aid team observed that some of the defenders, including Sentongo, have been charged with criminal trespass twice by the same complainant vide CC No 325 of 2020 and are now facing the same charge by the same party vide CC No 062/2023. This repeated persecution is a heavy burden on these defenders.

“The charges against our client undermine the accused person’s rights under Article 29 (9) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. It has proven that the cases brought against our clients are frivolous and vexatious as they are instituted in a manner that constitutes abuse of court processes,” the petition further read.

Therefore, the organization strongly urges the office of the DPP to exercise its prosecutorial discretion under relevant legal provisions. This is crucial for the prevalence of equity, justice, and good conscience and reaffirming the prosecution process’s integrity and objectivity.

By Witness Radio team.

The Buganda Road Chief Magistrate has dismissed another case against 20 anti-EACOP activists due to want of prosecution.

Yesterday, on April 7, 2024, her worship, Jalia Basajjabalaba, dismissed the case against the 20 activists. The case was dismissed after the state failed to produce witnesses pinning the activists on a common nuisance charge after close to 9 months of case trial.

On August 26, 2024, the 20 activists, including Pitua Robert, Okwai Stephen, Kothurach Margret, Omirambe Moses, Owonda Rogers, Alimange Joseph, and Wabiyona Wicklyf, among others, were arrested while peacefully marching to the Ministry of Energy to deliver a petition opposing EACOP and other oil projects. On August 27, 2024, they were arraigned before Court and charged by the Buganda Road Magistrate with common nuisance.

After nearly nine months of trial, the state failed to present a single witness, prompting the magistrate to close the case file.

Although the case against the activists has been dismissed, they remain deeply dissatisfied with the continued pattern of arrests and charges, which often collapse in Court due to a lack of evidence.

Bob Barigye, one of the activists whose case was dismissed, expressed concern over what he described as deliberate attempts to frustrate and silence voices critical of the EACOP project.

“We are saddened that it was just dismissed after eight months of pacing up and down to Court.

We are disappointed that the magistrate did not award us any cost or compensation for the dismissed case, meaning that the state failed to prove that we were a public nuisance and that we were citing violence as activists. Many of us have been forced to travel long distances from our villages to attend court sessions in Kampala — only for the state to produce no evidence against us. It’s a clear waste of our time, energy, and resources. But beyond that, it’s an attempt to discourage us from speaking the truth about the dangers of the EACOP project,” Barigye said.

Barigye added that the activists are already engaging their lawyers to explore further legal remedies in higher courts, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to justice and their cause.

“It is frustrating and deeply disappointing that we are dragged to Court and disrespected every time we stand up against this deadly pipeline, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). But we were ready to face this battle in Court because we knew we had committed no crime by delivering a petition,” Barigye said, expressing the activists’ exasperation with the legal process.

Shortly after their last Court appearance on February 20, the 20 accused activists, during a press briefing, demanded that the judiciary stop delaying hearings of their case related to the EACOP project and called for the dismissal of their case if the Court lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute them.

“The courts of law should not be used as tools of oppression. They should not waste any time. If we have a case to answer, let them prosecute us on April 7, which they have scheduled. If they fail again, they should dismiss the case instead of wasting our time and resources,” the activists emphasized, reiterating their demand for a fair and expedited legal process.

This is the second milestone achieved by the Stop EACOP activists in less than two months in their continued campaign against the EACOP pipeline. In February 2025, the Court also dismissed a common nuisance case against the 15 EACOP activists due to the lack of prosecution.

“The state doesn’t present a single witness in all the cases that have always been preferred against us. No witnesses have come along to say that these people were unruly. As activists, we want to investigate this further and go to the Constitutional Court to learn what constitutes a nuisance. Whoever is demonstrating peacefully is arrested and charged with a public nuisance. This charge is coronial and very demeaning. We want to go ahead and challenge this,” Barigye revealed, outlining the activists’ proactive plans to challenge the charge of public nuisance.

The EACOP project has long been controversial, with environmental activists arguing that it poses a significant environmental risk and has already left a trail of human rights abuses in the communities hosting it in Uganda and Tanzania.

The EACOP is a 1,443-kilometer heated pipeline transporting crude oil from Hoima, Uganda, to Tanga, Tanzania. The first 296 kilometers run through Uganda, while the remaining 1,147 kilometers pass through Tanzania. The project is a joint venture between TotalEnergies, the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

By Witness Radio team.

Less than two weeks after Witness Radio’s publication detailing the increasing criminalization of EACOP activists in Uganda, another group of 9 anti EACOP activists, in a brave act of protest, has been arrested while delivering their petition to Stanbic Bank Uganda urging it to withdraw its financial support for the East African crude oil pipeline (EACOP) project.

The peaceful march to Stanbic Bank’s headquarters at Crested Towers in Kampala to deliver a petition was violently disrupted by armed police, with support from the Special Forces Command (SFC), a security unit tasked with protecting Uganda’s president.

On March 24, Witness Radio Uganda published an article revealing that 15 anti-EACOP activists had already been arrested in just three months of 2025. The first wave of arrests occurred on February 26, when a group of 11 environmental activists was detained while marching to the European Union Delegation. The second incident involved four members attached to Extinction Rebellion Justice Movement Uganda, who were arrested before they could reach Parliament to deliver their petition to Speaker Anita Among.

With the arrest of a third group on April 2, 2025, the total number of detained activists has now risen to 24, raising concerns among those who voice negative impacts caused by the oil development activities.

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 financing provided by a syndicate of financial institutions, including regional banks such as Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited.

Following this development, the activists, undeterred by the risks, protested against Stanbic Bank’s decision to offer partial funding for what they described as a destructive project in a partial initial funding tranche, arresting 9 of them.

The nine, including Nalungu Habib, Kyosiimye Joe, Nalwadda Shamim, Wamboga Ivan, Katiiti Noah, Tamale Baker, Gumiisiliza George William, Nakabanda Benjamin, and Kizito Enock, were arrested outside the Stanbic Bank Uganda offices. According to Patrick Onyango, spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan Police, the suspects will be charged with Common Nuisance.

In an April 2 petition addressed to Stanbic Bank Uganda’s Chief Executive Officer, Mumba Kalinfugwa, the activists, unwavering in their commitment, condemned the bank’s financing of the mega project due to environmental and human rights concerns.

The EACOP project involves the construction of a 1,444km heated pipeline from Hoima in Uganda to Tanga in Tanzania, which will transport crude oil from Tilenga and Kingfisher fields.

As a result of its negative impacts, the activists highlighted that 43 banks and 29 insurers have already distanced themselves from the project. They claim that the project has caused displacement of hundreds of people, abductions and forced disappearances of community leaders, and arrests of over 100 oil pipeline critics in Uganda and Tanzania after expressing concerns about the project.

Other banks announced in the syndicate include the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, KCB Bank Uganda, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).

The Activists, however, maintained that a group of banks’ decision to finance the EACOP project has marked them as enablers of climate chaos, environmental destruction, and the continued exploitation of Uganda and Tanzania’s natural resources for the benefit of international profiteers at the expense of local communities.

“The institutions agreeing to give capital to EACOP have marked themselves as enablers of climate chaos, environmental destruction, and the continued exploitation of Africa’s natural resources for the benefit of international profiteers- at the direct expense of local communities. Today’s arrests further confirm this reality- banks like Stanbic are not only bankrolling environmental devastation but are also complicit in suppressing those who dare to resist.”, said StopEACOP Campaign Coordinator Zaki Mamdoo.

According to Brighton Aryampa, a lawyer representing the activists, these arrests are unlawful and yet another example of the Ugandan authorities using repression to stifle legitimate dissent. He adds that Peaceful protest is a constitutional right, but time and again, those speaking out against EACOP face brutality, arbitrary detention, and intimidation.

Speaking to one of Uganda’s dailies, the daily monitor, the Stanbic Bank manager for corporate communications confirms that the bank is financing the EACOP project, justifying that it aligns with and balances environmental sustainability and economic development in the country.

The nine are currently held in detention at the Kampala Central Police Station, awaiting to be tried in court at any time.