By the Witness Radio team.

Envisioned as a cornerstone of Uganda’s energy future, the Karuma Hydropower Project aimed to boost the nation’s power supply, lower electricity costs, and secure lasting energy stability.

In 2013, work began on the 600-megawatt Karuma Hydropower Station, nestled along the River Nile in Kiryandongo District. Led by China’s Sinohydro Corporation, the project transformed over 465 hectares with an underground power station and sprawling infrastructure.

China largely financed the project, with the Ugandan government contributing alongside the Export-Import Bank of China.

Karuma was heralded as a game-changer for Uganda’s electricity landscape, set to light up more homes and fuel the nation’s ambitions for industrial and economic growth.

Yet as the power station finally became reality in 2024, many who gave up their land and homes say they are still waiting for the government’s decade-old promises of compensation and resettlement.

Over 400 households remain caught in the heart of an unresolved compensation battle, urging the government to honor its responsibility and ensure those who lost everything are finally compensated or resettled.

According to the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Natural Resources’ report on the Ministerial Policy Statements for the financial year 2026/27, the government owes approximately UGX 70 billion to Project Affected Persons (PAPs) under the Karuma Hydropower Project.

For many victims, these delays have meant years without the land and livelihoods that once sustained them.

“I am growing old and don’t have a permanent job. It is becoming hard to survive after losing my land that was my family’s source of livelihood,” Owelo told the Witness Radio team.

Owelo Patrick, now 53, is still waiting for compensation. When the project claimed his eucalyptus plantation in Ayuda Village, he lost not just land, but the lifeline that once supported his family.

Thirteen years on, he finds himself renting a modest house and scraping by on odd jobs to survive.

“At this age, I work for anyone who calls me because I want to survive with my family,” Owelo adds.

He says the wait has grown more painful as some fellow claimants have died before seeing justice.

“The government should keep its promise because most of our colleagues promised compensation are dying, and for those of us alive, our patience has run out,” he says.

Apaco Suprianto Adyeeri is another whose life the project upended.

Now renting a small house along Obote Road in Karuma Town, Apaco recalls losing two acres of fertile land where she once grew cassava and other crops.

“Life is difficult because I have no money and struggle to care for my grandchildren. I don’t have a permanent house and survive on a small bar business that raises minimal income, which cannot support my family,” she says.

To make ends meet, Apaco now hires small plots of land to grow cassava, maize, and beans, hoping to earn just enough to get by.

“If the government can’t compensate us, let them give us land elsewhere to live. We expected help to rebuild our livelihood after losing our land. But 13 years later, we continue to suffer,” she reveals.

The $1.7 billion Karuma project swept through Kiryandongo District, displacing residents from villages like Nora, Akuridia, Karuma, Bedmot, and Awo.

Residents recResidents say they were forced to leave their homes and fields before any compensation arrived, destroying their farms, businesses, and means of living. Affected residents interviewed by Witness Radio said that after the eviction, the government also promised to resettle some of the affected families in Nwoya District, with each family expected to receive two acres of land and a constructed house.

Yet residents say the promised resettlement remains little more than words and has never fully materialized.

For farming families, losing land meant scrambling to rent plots elsewhere to grow food or earn a living. Others have been pushed into rented homes and still struggle to survive.

The long wait has come at a steep human cost, with some affected residents dying before receiving the compensation promised.

Seeking justice, affected families have sent repeated petitions to the President and government bodies, pleading for action on their long-overdue compensation and resettlement.

Some of their concerns are also documented in a written complaint dated 14 August 2024, signed by William Ogik and other Project Affected Persons from Karuma.

The letter, addressed to relevant authorities and copied to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Kiryandongo District leadership, the Chief Government Valuer, the Speaker of Parliament, Sinohydro and the Chinese Embassy in Uganda, formally outlines the communities’ grievances and calls for government intervention.

The communities voiced grievances over delayed compensation, claims of undervalued property, and the devastating loss of their farmland.

Ochaya Washington, former District Councilor and chief petitioner for the vulnerable, warns that the situation is now dire for elderly and at-risk residents who have waited years for the government to keep its word.

“People are all dying. I call upon the government and the Ministry to intervene and help these people before they perish,” he says.

Uganda’s drive for progress comes with a lesson from Karuma: true development must include timely compensation, real resettlement, and safeguarding livelihoods. Thirteen years later, many families are still waiting to piece their lives back together.

Environmental defenders warn ahead of UNCCD’s COP17 in Mongolia that development banks are financing critical mineral projects that accelerate desertification, water depletion and deforestation while claiming to support a just energy transition.

By the Witness Radio team

NAIROBI, Kenya: Seed sovereignty champions, farmers, researchers, and civil society groups from across East Africa have united to launch a media campaign for the first Eastern Africa Indigenous Seed Conference. Their call is urgent: recognize and protect farmer-managed seed systems as seed regulations, commercialization, and the loss of indigenous diversity threaten the region. The campaign aims to rally smallholder farmers for the conference, highlighting how indigenous seeds and ancestral wisdom can revive biodiversity, combat climate change, and secure food sovereignty.

Set for 17 to 20 November 2026 at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, the four-day conference will gather farmers, pastoralists, researchers, policymakers, seed guardians, civil society, and development partners to shape the future of indigenous seeds and food systems in the region.

The conference will be held under the theme “Realizing the Right to Food through Seed Sovereignty.”

This launch comes as farmers and seed sovereignty advocates question whether East Africa’s seed laws and regulations truly honor the farmer-managed systems that for generations have allowed communities to select, conserve, exchange, and replant their own seeds.

Activists warn that the growing focus on certified and commercial seed systems threatens traditional knowledge, reduces local seed diversity, and undermines farmers’ freedom to save, exchange, and reproduce varieties adapted to their land.

Daniel Wanjama, Executive Director of Seed Savers Network, said farmer-managed seed systems remain central to food production across the region, arguing that commercial seed systems cannot provide the seed diversity farmers need in different environments.

Wanjama added that about 80 percent of the seeds farmers use in the region come from farmer-managed seed systems, underscoring the importance of supporting farmers in conserving and developing their own varieties.

“There is no commercial seed system that can provide the seeds that farmers need because diversity is part of a resilient mechanism,” he said.

He emphasized that preserving a wide variety of locally adapted seed varieties is crucial as farmers face mounting challenges from climate change.

Wanjama also pointed out a troubling disconnect between current seed policies and the realities faced by smallholder farmers across face across “The policies across the region are not aligned, and just to give you an example, recently last year in Kenya, the high court found the act that is governing the seed sector in Kenya was unconstitutional because it is limiting the farmers’ rights in being able to access seeds,” he said.

He argued that some African seed laws borrow regulatory models from highly commercialized agricultural systems abroad, making them ill-suited for local contexts.

“The laws are cut and paste from the global north where farming is largely commercial and large-scale; they don’t fit our circumstances. That’s why we need to come together and discuss what we can do about it,” he added.

Amid the seed sovereignty debate, African farmers and civil society organizations are championing Farmer-Managed Seed Systems, building community seed banks, and pushing for greater recognition of farmers as stewards of seed conservation and exchange.

In Uganda, farmers and civil society groups are increasingly turning to community-driven seed conservation, offering a grassroots alternative or complement to formal seed supply systems.

Nancy Mugimba, National Coordinator of the Eastern and Southern Africa Smallholder Farmers Forum (ESAFF) Uganda, said farmers sometimes face planting delays because existing support systems provide inadequate access to seed.

She said some of the seeds provided to farmers are also not necessarily suited to the conditions of particular communities.

Mugimba noted that efforts are now focused on strengthening community seed banks, empowering farmers to cultivate and safeguard the varieties they know and trust.

“We have introduced seed banking in communities, which is not new because farmers were already doing it at home. We have just increased capacity to ensure it works effectively,” she said.

She observed that farmers are more motivated to protect indigenous varieties when they see their vital role in sustaining food supplies and ensuring seed access within their communities.

Panelists urged governments to boost support for farmer-managed seed systems, advocating for multiplying indigenous varieties beyond research and breeding. They stressed that empowering community seed banks and local seed multiplication would expand access to diverse, locally adapted varieties.

The discussions also showcased the diverse strategies emerging across East Africa to revitalize and improve seed systems.

In Tanzania, the seed sector is undergoing reforms to expand access to and use of improved seed while strengthening seed production, quality assurance, and commercial distribution. The Tanzania Seed Sector Development Strategy (TSSDS), approved in May 2026 and covering up to 2030, aims to double the area under improved seed from about 3 million to 6 million hectares and expand the agro-dealer network from around 3,000 to 12,000 to improve farmers’ access to quality seed.

Daud Manongi, Program Lead for the Biodiversity Conservation Program at Tanzanian organization TABIO, said farmers still face restrictions on selling seed within the country’s formal regulatory framework.

“Our farmers are currently not allowed to sell their seeds within the developed framework, but so far we have approved seeds,” Manongi said.

He said the Tanzanian government has approved 13 local varieties for wider production and use. At the same time, discussions are ongoing with the Tanzania Seed Certification Agency (TASC) on how to make registration and market processes more accessible to smallholder farmers.

Manongi noted that farmers and organizations championing local varieties still face hurdles like taxation and limited dialogue with policymakers.

“There is inconsistent engagement with policymakers, and sometimes it is difficult for them to cooperate with farmers on accessing locally adapted varieties because of tax issues,” he said.

He also said agricultural extension services often prioritize commercial seed production, leaving farmers with little support for indigenous varieties.

According to Manongi, farmers urgently need access to knowledge about indigenous seed production and conservation to boost the availability of locally adapted varieties.

Activists insist that farmers’ power to conserve, exchange, and reproduce seeds is deeply tied to food security, biodiversity, cultural heritage, and the resilience of communities facing climate change.

The inaugural Eastern Africa Indigenous Seed Conference, organized by Seed Savers Network with partners like Witness Radio, promises to be a vital regional platform for these urgent issues.

This November, the conference will spotlight the defense of farmer-managed seed systems against corporate and legal pressures, while also strengthening climate resilience, safeguarding biodiversity, and weaving stronger regional networks among farmers, researchers, policymakers, and civil society.

The event comes as climate change, biodiversity loss, commercial agriculture, and shifting policies intensify strain on traditional farming systems across the region.

For smallholder farmers, seed sovereignty is about more than where seeds come from. Advocates say it is a question of who holds the power over food production, and whether farmers will retain the freedom and ability to save, share, and reproduce the seeds that sustain their communities.