SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Government on the spot over giveaway of forest, ranch to one investor
Published
4 years agoon
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/home06pix1.jpg)
Government has been dragged to court for allegedly allocating more than 68,709 acres of land housing a forest reserve and ranches to a single investor without consulting the agencies that were managing it.
It is alleged that government through the Uganda Land Commission (ULC) and the Lands ministry allocated the huge chunks of land to three companies owned by a single businessman.
The cases were filed in Masindi High Court by Kafu Sugar Limited and the National Forest Authority (NFA) in March.
NFA in its court documents claims that 22Sq miles (14,080 acres) of Bugoma Central Forest Reserve in Kikuube District were given to Hoima Sugar Limited, 19.5Sq miles (12,480 acres) of land comprising of former Bunyoro Ranching Scheme to Kiryandongo Sugar Limited in Kiryandongo District as well as 42,149 acres of Maruzi Ranch in Apac District to Hillside Agriculture Limited for palm tree growing.
Court documents further indicate that businessman Sarbjit Singh Rai is the major shareholder in all the three companies and the other partners are members of his family.
For the case of Bugoma forest land, NFA sued Hoima Sugar Limited jointly with Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom and ULC over alleged encroachment on the forest reserve for sugarcane growing.
In the case pending before the Court of Appeal, NFA argues that Bunyoro-Kitara King fraudulently stealthily applied for a freehold title on part of the forest without their consent.
For Kiryandongo land, government through the Attorney General is party to two cases of alleged illegalities committed by ULC and other government agencies in allocation the 19.5Sq miles (about 5,074 hectares) comprised in ranches 23, 28, 29 and 30.
In one case, Kafu Sugar Limited and its director Jaswant Singh Rai sued the AG, ULC, Kiryandongo District Land Board, Kiryandongo Sugar Limited, Commissioner of Land Registration and Sarbjit Singh Rai.
In the case, the complainants contend that the accused parties committed fraud and illegalities when ULC approved allocation of the said land to Kiryandongo Sugar Limited.
Court documents show that Kafu Sugar Limited applied and was granted lease on the ranches in 2012 for five years for commercial sugar cane farming and in 2017, the company applied for an extension but instead the lease was granted to Kiryandongo Sugar Limited without their consent.
Through its lawyers, Kafu Sugar Limited alleges that Mr Sarbjit breached his fiduciary duties as its director and shareholder when he incorporated and promoted the competing business interests of Kiryandongo Sugar Limited at its expense.
On the same land, a group of nine people, on behalf of 5,000 evicted families sued Kiryandongo Sugar Company Limited jointly with the Kiryandongo District Police Commander, Mr Joseph Bakaleke, a UPDF soldier, Capt Joseph Moro, Mr John Masagazi, the sugar company manager, and the Attorney General.
It is alleged that in March 2017, more than 5,000 persons were illegally evicted from the land comprised on four blocks in the ranches without compensation.
Petition
In Maruzi Ranch, Apac District leaders have since petitioned President Museveni protesting the manner in which the ranch was allocated to the same investor under Hillside Agriculture Limited.
According to the letter signed by the district chairperson, Mr Bob Okae, the giveaway of part of Maruzi Ranch denies them revenue in terms of ground rent.
Original Post: Daily Monitor
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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS
Statement: The Energy Sector Strategy 2024–2028 Must Mark the End of the EBRD’s Support to Fossil Fuels
Published
10 months agoon
September 27, 2023![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/statement.png)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is due to publish a new Energy Sector Strategy before the end of 2023. A total of 130 civil society organizations from over 40 countries have released a statement calling on the EBRD to end finance for all fossil fuels, including gas.
From 2018 to 2021, the EBRD invested EUR 2.9 billion in the fossil energy sector, with the majority of this support going to gas. This makes it the third biggest funder of fossil fuels among all multilateral development banks, behind the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank.
The EBRD has already excluded coal and upstream oil and gas fields from its financing. The draft Energy Sector Strategy further excludes oil transportation and oil-fired electricity generation. However, the draft strategy would continue to allow some investment in new fossil gas pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, as well as gas power generation and heating.
In the statement, the civil society organizations point out that any new support to gas risks locking in outdated energy infrastructure in places that need investments in clean energy the most. At the same time, they highlight, ending support to fossil gas is necessary, not only for climate security, but also for ensuring energy security, since continued investment in gas exposes countries of operation to high and volatile energy prices that can have a severe impact on their ability to reach development targets. Moreover, they underscore that supporting new gas transportation infrastructure is not a solution to the current energy crisis, given that new infrastructure would not come online for several years, well after the crisis has passed.
The signatories of the statement call on the EBRD to amend the Energy Sector Strategy to
- fully exclude new investments in midstream and downstream gas projects;
- avoid loopholes involving the use of unproven or uneconomic technologies, as well as aspirational but meaningless mitigation measures such as “CCS-readiness”; and
- strengthen the requirements for financial intermediaries where the intended nature of the sub-transactions is not known to exclude fossil fuel finance across the entire value chain.
Source: iisd.org
Download the statement: https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-09/ngo-statement-on-energy-sector-strategy-2024-2028.pdf
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Will more sovereign wealth funds mean less food sovereignty?
Published
1 year agoon
April 13, 2023![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/Government-Vedder-Highsmith-detail-1.jpg)
- 45% of Louis Dreyfus Company, with its massive land holdings in Latin America, growing sugarcane, citrus, rice and coffee;
- a majority stake in Unifrutti, with 15,000 ha of fruit farms in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Philippines, Spain, Italy and South Africa; and
- Al Dahra, a large agribusiness conglomerate controlling and cultivating 118,315 ha of farmland in Romania, Spain, Serbia, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia and the US.
Sovereign wealth funds invested in farmland/food/agriculture (2023)
|
|||
Country
|
Fund
|
Est.
|
AUM (US$bn)
|
China
|
CIC
|
2007
|
1351
|
Norway
|
NBIM
|
1997
|
1145
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADIA
|
1967
|
993
|
Kuwait
|
KIA
|
1953
|
769
|
Saudi Arabia
|
PIF
|
1971
|
620
|
China
|
NSSF
|
2000
|
474
|
Qatar
|
QIA
|
2005
|
450
|
UAE – Dubai
|
ICD
|
2006
|
300
|
Singapore
|
Temasek
|
1974
|
298
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
Mubadala
|
2002
|
284
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADQ
|
2018
|
157
|
Australia
|
Future Fund
|
2006
|
157
|
Iran
|
NDFI
|
2011
|
139
|
UAE
|
EIA
|
2007
|
91
|
USA – AK
|
Alaska PFC
|
1976
|
73
|
Australia – QLD
|
QIC
|
1991
|
67
|
USA – TX
|
UTIMCO
|
1876
|
64
|
USA – TX
|
Texas PSF
|
1854
|
56
|
Brunei
|
BIA
|
1983
|
55
|
France
|
Bpifrance
|
2008
|
50
|
UAE – Dubai
|
Dubai World
|
2005
|
42
|
Oman
|
OIA
|
2020
|
42
|
USA – NM
|
New Mexico SIC
|
1958
|
37
|
Malaysia
|
Khazanah
|
1993
|
31
|
Russia
|
RDIF
|
2011
|
28
|
Turkey
|
TVF
|
2017
|
22
|
Bahrain
|
Mumtalakat
|
2006
|
19
|
Ireland
|
ISIF
|
2014
|
16
|
Canada – SK
|
SK CIC
|
1947
|
16
|
Italy
|
CDP Equity
|
2011
|
13
|
China
|
CADF
|
2007
|
10
|
Indonesia
|
INA
|
2020
|
6
|
India
|
NIIF
|
2015
|
4
|
Spain
|
COFIDES
|
1988
|
4
|
Nigeria
|
NSIA
|
2011
|
3
|
Angola
|
FSDEA
|
2012
|
3
|
Egypt
|
TSFE
|
2018
|
2
|
Vietnam
|
SCIC
|
2006
|
2
|
Gabon
|
FGIS
|
2012
|
2
|
Morocco
|
Ithmar Capital
|
2011
|
2
|
Palestine
|
PIF
|
2003
|
1
|
Bolivia
|
FINPRO
|
2015
|
0,4
|
AUM (assets under management) figures from Global SWF, January 2023
|
|||
Engagement in food/farmland/agriculture assessed by GRAIN
|
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Farmland values hit record highs, pricing out farmers
Published
2 years agoon
November 21, 2022![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/original_Screen_Shot_2022-11-14_at_9.27.35_AM.png)
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/photo-Afiego-80x80.png)
Oil activities in Murchison Falls National Park threaten Wildlife Conservation – AFIEGO study reveals.
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/thumbimage-80x80.jpeg)
A Financial gap: Can China be stopped from financing the EACOP?
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/NEMA.-1-80x80.jpg)
NEMA suspend operations to evict the World Bank project-affected community and other residents accused of being located in wetlands.
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot-2024-07-22-at-08-24-59-Farmers-count-losses-as-dry-spell-scorches-maize-gardens-Monitor-80x80.png)
Farmers count losses as dry spell scorches maize gardens
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/defilement-attempt-1-80x80.jpg)
Sexual violence as a tool to grab land: a local woman accuses industrial agriculture investor Agilis Partners Limited of sexual violence.
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/Kiryandongo-1-80x80.jpg)
Thirty-six (36) groups from all over the world have written to industrial agriculture investors, Agilis Partners Limited to stop human rights violations/abuses against thousands of indigenous/local communities, settle grievances, and return the grabbed land.
![](https://witnessradio.org/wp-content/uploads/WhatsApp-Image-2024-07-08-at-14.45.18_28c737d5-80x80.jpg)
CSOs, oil host communities, and concerned citizens have petitioned the President of Uganda to stop oil drilling in the Murchison Falls National Park.
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Enemies of the State: Resistance to the EACOP becomes a deadly task
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Innovative Finance from Canada projects positive impact on local communities.
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Over 5000 Indigenous Communities evicted in Kiryandongo District
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Petition To Land Inquiry Commission Over Human Rights In Kiryandongo District
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Invisible victims of Uganda Land Grabs
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