By Witness Radio team
Anxiety has gripped Witness Radio’s legal team after the fire outbreak at Hoima High Court. Officials say fire is feared to have destroyed vital evidence in lawsuits files against high-profile people, which the organization filed recently and set for hearing soon.
Although the source of the fire is still not yet established, the Albertine Regional Police spokesperson, Julius Hakiza, confirms that the weekend fire started at around 6 AM local time on Saturday, the 21st of 2023, and originated from the archive section of the high court, resulting in the destruction of numerous documents, reducing them to ashes.
The Hoima High Court, which houses Hoima Chief Magistrate Court, is a neighbor to Albertine regional police headquarters in Hoima City.
The fire news is coming at a time when an East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) victim community locally identified as Kapapi Community had initiated a private prosecution case against Brigadier General Peter Akankunda Nabasa, one Gafayo Ndawula William, Kyakashari Micheal, the Deputy Resident District Commissioner in Hoima, Bogere Patrick, a Hoima Rural District Police Commander, and others.
The accused persons and their agents in the wee hours (1:00 AM) local time on February, 10th 2023, raided people’s homes with dozens of unidentified armed individuals, donning Uganda Police Force (UPF) and Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) uniforms. Acting under the orders of DPC Bogere and Brigadier Nabasa, along with armed guards affiliated with Magnum, a private security company fired tear gas and live bullets into their houses, sexually abused women, set people’s houses ablaze, physical assaults, kidnaps, looted livestock, and food items and forcefully evicted them from their land.
The same community which lost its land in February 2023, had filed several civil suits seeking reinstatement back on their land and compensation for damages and human rights violations suffered.
The actions of the accused persons led to the grabbing of 1294.99 hectares, that have been lawfully occupied and cultivated by thousands of locals in the villages of Waaki North, Kapapi Central, Waaki South, Runga, and Kiryatete within Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties in Hoima district.
According to Witness Radio research findings, the individuals involved in the Kapapi land grabbing are targeting to benefit from the compensation intended for community members, given that their land was earlier identified to be impacted by the Tilenga Resettlement Action Plan 4, an EACOP project in 2018.
Now, the lawyers are concerned that the valuable evidence implicating the suspects may have been compromised during the recent fire outbreak, potentially jeopardizing their chances of winning their cases.
“This is a significant case involving influential individuals with connections and substantial power, giving them the ability to exert their influence as they please. They have consistently issued warnings, urging us to abandon the case. Now, with the courthouse fire, it has placed our cases in a precarious position,” One of the lawyers stated.
On the 12th of October 2023, when both criminal and civil cases came to court, were subsequently adjourned to November 2023.
Hakiza has disclosed that the police have already launched a comprehensive investigation to ascertain the causes of the fire outbreak.
