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Land as a security issue: endless forced land evictions and impunity threaten Uganda’s peace, lawlessness on the rise.

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2 years ago

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Residents carrying Naava Milly Namumutebi's body who was killed over land-related issues. Photo Credit: Daily Monitor

By Witness Radio team

Sad! A ‘landlord’ and her husband murdered in a preventable bloodshed!

On Monday, the 31st of July, 2023, families in the Kiruma sub-county in Mubende district woke up to sad news of the killing of a couple (Naava Milly Namutebi and her husband, Abdallah Kayizzi) that was claiming ownership of 906.496 hectares. Naava and the husband were killed after they were allegedly found harvesting maize belonging to a kibanja holder, Kamanzi, not his real name, due to the sensitivity of this matter. Kamanzi is a bonafide kibanja holder born on that land in 1975. He has been in and out of prison for owning a Kibanja on a piece of land ‘owned’ by Naava’s family.

In Uganda, Kibanja ownership is defined under the Land Act Cap 227, (Section 29(1)(a)(i) as a lawful occupant falling within registered land particularly described as Mailo land tenure system, while a landlord kis referred to as a property owner (including their authorized agent) who rents or leases that property (such as land, houses, or apartments) to another party in exchange for rent payments according to the Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022.

According to sources, Naava Milly Namutebi, now the deceased, has been an ‘administrator’ of the family estate however, since she assumed that responsibility in 2011, she has never gotten to terms with families she found already owning bibanja on their land.

The land has over 4000 bibanja holders, and it covers 16 villages such as Kirwanyi Central, Kirwanyi East, Kirwanyi West, Nakasagazi, Kituule A, Kituule B, Kibalagazi A, Kibalagazi B, Kakkanembe, Bukyambuzi A, Bukyambuzi B, Kisende, Mulanda, Kituule central, Kirwanyi A, and Butayunja in Kirwanyi and Kituule parishes in Butoloogo Sub County in Mubende district.

Because of endless disagreements, the deceased, on several incidents, would hire police officers from Mubende district police, army offices at Kabamba Army Barracks based in Mubende district, and private security guards to carry out arbitrary arrests, and detention, imprisonment, to carry out forced land evictions and to provide security to her (Naava) while harvesting food crops with impunity belonging to bibanja holders such as maize. All this impunity has been exercised, under the watchful eyes of the police, officers at the Director of Public Prosecution in Mubende district, Judicial officers in Mubende district, and elected leaders.

On different occasions, the late Naava could be arrested under the orders of heads of several organs and agencies of government. For instance, the former Inspector general of police fired top heads of Mubende police for failing to restrain her (Late Naava) from harassing bibanja owners, and the commission of inquiry arrested her plus her accomplices for forging documents used to evict 3,000 people from a private mailo land in Mubende district and many other incidents. However, these arrests would not deter the late from continuing her conduct.

Due to the ongoing criminalization of activities of smallholder farmers in Uganda by individuals who are politically connected, on Friday, the 24th of June, 2022, Mubende district chief magistrate court set free six community land rights defenders (victims of late Naava) who were facing murder charges and had been on remand without trial since 2019. Their release came after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) withdrew murder charges against the six defenders for several reasons.

With the high levels of impunity in Uganda, at around 6:00 am, late Naava, her late husband, and their casual laborers rounded up, roped Kamanzi inside his house, descended to his kibanja, and started harvesting his maize.

According to sources, news of roping Kamanzi circulated in many villages. It was estimated that between 7:00 am and 7:30 am local time, a group of unknown people, allegedly found late Naava and her group harvesting Kamanzi’s maize. Naava and her husband were attacked and hacked to death.

Witness Radio Uganda has monitored and documented instances of human rights violations and abuses committed against bibanja holders and community land rights defenders who were arbitrarily arrested and detained in ungazetted detention centers and tried under kangaroo court established by late Naava and her group, peasants farm field got slashed down, many got coerced to sign documents that would take away their rights as Bibanja holders.

Failures by ministries, government departments and agencies and state organs to restrain late Naava from exercising excessive authority targeting bibanja holders and community land rights defenders have cost lives.

Several years ago, Witness Radio – Uganda documented many land related murder cases because government offices were absent, and where they are present, majority of them take sides to protecting the rich.

Uganda is witnessing a widening gap of land inequality, and if not addressed, Uganda may experience a civil war resulting from land conflicts.

 

Related posts:

Mockery’ as Economically Powerful ‘landlord’ Is Arrested For Causing Mayhem to Thousands of Bibanja Holders in Mubende A self-claimed landlord who caused the imprisonment of six community land rights defenders on false charges was aligned before the court and charged with 28 counts. A self-claimed landlord who masterminded the imprisonment of six community land rights defenders for three years has been arrested. Government orders arrest of notorious land grabber in Mubende district. Murder And Eviction: The Violent Land Rush In Mubende Intensifies

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Over 1,000 residents in Uganda’s lost village at risk of extreme hunger

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4 hours ago

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May 2, 2025

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What you need to know:

 In January, a joint team of soldiers and police evicted more than 400 local people who had been occupying part of the 64 square kilometre Maruzi ranch in Apac District. The most affected were actually residents of Acam-cabu Village.

Acam-cabu Village is no longer a recognised administrative unit in northern Uganda’s Apac District after it was erased from the map of Uganda following a land dispute.

 Since this area is now excluded from the list of existing villages in the country, a total of 1,040 people living in 180 households there cannot now benefit from any government programmes and projects.

 Mr Bosco Wacha, the LCI chairman of Acam-cabu, said the village disappeared from the map of Uganda around 2018.
“Since 2018, I have not been getting my salary and the people who have been isolated because of this confusion are suffering,” Mr Wacha said on the phone on Thursday, May 1, 2025.

 He also said all the households in the lost village are at risk of extreme hunger and starvation because the government has stopped them from engaging in any farming or economic activities.

“There is a severe shortage of food here because we have been stopped from farming. We are not able now to take our children to school and we lack access to healthcare,” said Mr Joe Olwock, the area chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

Mr Felix Odongo Ococ, Akokoro LC3 chairman, said that although the government doesn’t recognise Acam-cabu as a village in Uganda, during the National Population and Housing Census, 2024, enumerators went and counted people there.

Data obtained from the local leadership of this isolated administrative unit shows that there are 180 households in Acam-cabu. Of these, at least 14 households have one member each and eight households have eight members.

 However, a household regarded as number eight in the document that was reportedly sent to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has the highest membership, standing at 11 people. This household is followed by number 158, which has 10 members, and household number eight has a total of nine members.

Dr Kenneth Omona, the Minister of Northern Uganda, previously said he would meet the leadership of Apac to try to iron out all issues affecting the community in the district.
In January, a joint team of soldiers and police evicted more than 400 local people who had been occupying part of the 64 square kilometre Maruzi ranch in Apac District. The most affected were actually residents of Acam-cabu Village.

The squatters, numbering over 1,500 occupied the said land around 1995. They had repeatedly ignored various eviction notices, saying the land belongs to their fore grandfathers.

In September 2015, the High Court in Lira issued an interim order blocking Apac District leadership from evicting the affected residents. The district then resorted to using the army and police to evict the squatters.
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has established a military detachment to man security of the area.

Source: Monitor.

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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

EU: Palm oil lobbyists allegedly are trying to “undo” deforestation law, incl. granting “smallholder” exemptions, raising concerns for Indonesian rainforests

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2 days ago

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April 30, 2025

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“Palm oil lobbyists water down Europe’s anti-deforestation law”

The European Union made waves when it passed the landmark EUDR “zero deforestation” law in 2023. Unfortunately, multinationals are already trying to undo it.

The new law is an attempt to keep deforestation-linked products out of Europe, but palm oil lobbyists are fighting back, saying its monitoring and tracing requirements could financially harm small farmers.

In part due to these concerns, the EU is giving all importers until 2026 to get up to speed on compliance. But now, lobbyists are pushing the EU to grant smallholders exemptions from the EUDR—a potential death knell for some of Indonesia’s last standing rainforests.

The term “smallholder” is very ambiguous in Indonesia. Some smallholders run impoverished family farms. Others are local elites who abuse their influence to create mini corporate plantations in protected areas, a growing problem for the orangutan capital of the world.

Those elites are a major source of deforestation in Indonesia, but lobbyists want to have the EU pre-label entire geographic regions as being at “minimal risk” for smallholder deforestation, essentially giving them a pass on EUDR requirements.

…the EU … shouldn’t create major loopholes for small, rogue operators. Instead, it should help smallholders reach full compliance…

Original Source:www.ran.org Via  Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

80-year-old widow evicted from her land, detained for five months on trespass charges

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6 days ago

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April 26, 2025

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Ms Elivaida Mugala (C) and her children pose next to the grave of her husband on disputed piece of land in Nawaka village, Ikumbya Sub-county in Luuka District. PHOTO/DENIS EDEMA.

Ms Elivaida Mugala, a resident of Nawaka village, Ikumbya Sub-county in Luuka District, Eastern Uganda, is fighting to reclaim her 36-acre piece of land allegedly stolen by a grabber who accused her of trespass, yet she has lived on it for five decades.
Armed with what Ms Mugala believes are forged documents and backed by some local authorities, the alleged land grabber, Mr Fred Bahati, has left the 80-year-old widow and her family frustrated and helpless.
Her neighbours and other community members are also outraged and now worried that their land could be targeted next.

 Neighbours who witnessed her eviction described the scene as chaotic and traumatising to watch after the suspected grabber allegedly hired police and suspected goons to eject the elderly Ms Mugala from the peoperty she inherited from her late husband,  Yowasi Kintu who died in 2022.

“Mr Bahati took advantage of our vulnerability after my husband’s death. He used his power and influence to forge documents to claim ownership of my land. But I won’t back down. I’ll fight for justice, no matter what it takes,’’ Ms Mugala vowed.

A maize garden in front of one of the houses that belonged to Ms Elivaida Mugala

Ms Mugala recounted eviction experience, saying: “When I resisted the forceful eviction from the land we’ve occupied since the 1970s, I was accused of trespassing on my own land and home. I was arrested along with my grandchildren and daughter, and we were imprisoned in Iganga for five months without clear charges or legal representation.’’
“He came with an army of security personnel, threatening us with firearms and intimidating our entire community. His hired thugs destroyed my home and crops, then accused me and my grandchildren of causing the damage. At my age, what energy do I have to inflict such harm?” Ms Mugala recounted.

“It’s a grave injustice, and I demand accountability. It’s clear that some local leaders are colluding with the grabber. They’re taking advantage of the family’s vulnerability, but the community won’t stand for it. We’re calling on district leaders to intervene and bring justice to this elderly woman,” Defence Secretary of Nawaka B Village, Mr Francis Balwaine said.
According to Mr Balwaine no leader has visited to investigate, nor police picked interest in investing this case.
“It’s clear that the lack of action is due to the family’s inability to bribe their way to justice. This injustice will have consequences, and it will likely cost the ruling party votes,’’ he added.

When this reporter visited the scene, Ms Mugala’s two-roomed house was found damaged, with windows shattered and doors plucked out.

The trees she had planted around the home were also cut down.

Ms Mugala showed us a maize garden prepared by the suspected land grabber during the five months she was reportedly detained by police no clear charge.

Mr Christopher Matindo, a 76-year-old retired teacher and current information secretary of Nawaka Parish, who shares a boundary with Ms Mugala, said he was worried he could be the next target for the land grabbers.

“Mr Bahati hasn’t lived around here since he was a child. What basis does he have for claiming ownership of this land?’’ Mr Matindo wondered.

Mr Matindo revealed that his land is adjacent to the disputed piece of land, making him a concerned neighbor.
“I’m worried that if they succeed in grabbing Ms Mugala’s land, mine could be next. What’s more troubling is the silence from local leaders. Why are they quiet on this matter?’’ he wondered.

One of Ms Mugala’s sons, Mr Moses Nsandha, 37, said they have sought help from various offices, including the police, but they have not been helped.

“It’s like the land grabber has bought off the entire Luuka district leadership, leaving us with nowhere to turn,’’ he alleged.

“We’ve been loyal NRM voters for decades, but this incident has opened our eyes to see the reality. If this is how they repay us – by enabling grabbers to steal from the vulnerable – then they shouldn’t expect our votes again if there is no justice for the old woman,’’ said Mr Godfrey Mulwa, Councilor for Nawaka Parish.
When contacted, Mr Bahati said the case was in court and denied any involvement in destroying the elderly woman’s property.
He claimed that he purchased the land through the rightful channels, arguing that the house he demolished was his workers’ quarters on his property.

Mr Bahati claimed he’s in possession of genuine documents proving his ownership of the land, which he said spans between 8-10 acres.

He dismissed Ms Mugala’s claim that the disputed land measures 36 acres, arguing that she exaggerated it.

According to the district Police Commander, Mr Moses Akena, land fights are increasingly becoming a challenge in Luuka.

 

A house belonging to the daughter of Ms  Mugala, which was destroyed by a suspected land grabber in Luuka district.PHOTO/ ENIS EDEMA.

“A common scenario is when family members, particularly brothers, grab property from widows or orphans after the death of the family head,’’ he said.
Mr Akena acknowledged a high level of moral decay in the community, contributing to the rise in land disputes.
However, he noted that the police are collaborating with Redeem International, an NGO that advocates for widows’ and orphans’ rights. Through this partnership, they’re working to restore grabbed property to its rightful owners through court proceedings.

Police have over time been accused of enabling land grabbing through corruption.
Mr Hassan Ssembarirwa, Deputy Resident Commissioner of Luuka, said Ms Mugala, whose land is allegedly being grabbed by Mr Bahati, is currently before the RDC’s office.
He noted that Mr Bahati has filed five cases against Ms Mugala in different courts.
Ironically, Mr Ssembarirwa revealed that Redeem International, an organisation dedicated to protecting the property rights of widows and orphans, is handling Ms Mugala’s case in court with the support of the RDC’s office. Their goal is to ensure the elderly woman regains her land.

“The police forensic investigations indicated that he had forged agreement documents and the matter is before the court, being followed up by Redeem International and the office of the RDC to ensure the old woman gets justice,’’ Mr Ssembarirwa said seemingly affirming that the responsible government officials have folded their hands instead of helping Ms Ms Mugala who also claim to be a longtime supporter of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) which has been I power for nearly four decades.

Ms Damalie Nyafwono, a lawyer with the NGO, said her team had successfully secured bail for three individuals accused in a land dispute case filed by Mr Bahati at Kiyunga Magistrate Court in Luuka.

“Mr Bahati has filed multiple cases against Ms Magala in different courts in Iganga. It’s clear he’s trying to harass and intimidate her. But we’re prepared to fight her case in every forum until she gets justice,’’ the lawyer said.

Corruption among public servants and land grabbing have become a common and permanent feature in almost every part of the country, with the most vulnerable being women and ordinary/ poor Ugandans who cannot bribe their way to get justice.
Police said in their latest annual crime report that a total of 397 cases of land-related crimes were reported in 2024, compared to 271 cases reported in 2023, giving a 46.5 per cent increase in the crimes reported under this category.

Source: monitor.co.ug

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