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Land grabbers set sights on Kilembe golf course

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One of the houses that is under construction on the Kilembe golf course land. 

Many unscrupulous people around the country have taken advantage of the current lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic to grab land for their own benefit as the country sleeps through this period.

Not even warnings from the minister of lands housing and urban development, Betty Kamya, that any disputed land deals in this lockdown are null and void, have shaken the quick-witted ones who have gone ahead to displace people and their gardens in areas such as Kiryandongo, Hoima, Masindi and Luweero districts.

The golf course was due to be revamped. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

When it comes to golf courses, many of the golf clubs have always had ‘fights’ with land grabbers with some courses saving their land after court battles, with some losing out due to political interference.

Courses like the Masaka Golf Course has already lost part of its land to a Bank of Uganda currency centre while others in Jinja, Mbale, Lira, West Nile and Soroti among others have had running battles with commercial developers who have always wanted to use part of the courses for other purposes.

The Lira golf course had in particular been turned into a grazing field and a crossing point for pedestrians while part of the land for the West Nile Club was earmarked for a market.

One of the gardens on the Kilembe golf course land. Courtesy Photo

The latest to fall victim to land grabbers is the oldest course in the country-the Kilembe Mines Golf Club whose land has now been utilised for residential housing and farming.

According to the club secretary Habib Kisande, buildings have been constructed on the edge of fairways 5 and 17 while there are gardens on fairways 5, 15, and 16 with a one Panado Muhenka, a member of the Muhenka family well known for grabbing land and selling it in Kasese, behind the brokerage of the land.

“The encroachers have used the lockdown to their advantage, built a house on the course and portioning the course into plots for sale. We are not sure yet who they are but we are in the process of demolishing these properties as investigations go on,” Kisande said.

Land grabbers have taken advantage of the nationwide lockdown to strike. Courtesy Photo

Established in the 1950s, The Kilembe Mines Golf Course established itself as one of the best courses in East Africa. With the demise of the Kilembe Mines the club began a slow and bumpy ride towards an uncertain future.

But efforts to revamp one of the only five 18-hole golf courses in the country were on until the latest developments.

Original Post: New Vision

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Mityana district police rounded up and arbitrarily arrested over 50 Kikuube PAPs to block them from meeting Uganda’s Prime Minister.

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By Witness Radio team

Two (2) community land rights defenders and 68 projects-affected persons from Kikuube district including children have been rounded up and arrested by Mityana district Police, Witness Radio has learned.

The community group led by Fred Mbambali and Ahumuza Busingye, were arrested from City Healing Church in Mityana Municipality, Mityana district. They were arrested on the orders of Mityana District Police Commander, Mr. Hasunira Ahmed, without being informed of the reasons for the arrest.

To seek justice and reclaim their grabbed land, the community decided to journey from the Kikuube district on Saturday, 2nd March 2024. Their objective was to petition Uganda’s Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabanja, to intervene in grievances concerning forced evictions from their land and their unsuccessful attempts to regain ownership of their land that was grabbed by the officials of the Prime minister’s office for Kyangwali resettlement camp.

“On Friday, we departed from Kikuube district to Kakumiro intending to meet the Prime Minister. We aimed to convey the challenges we are facing following the unlawful seizure of our land. We sought her intervention to help us regain ownership, especially since many offices that were approached have not helped end our misery. Unfortunately, upon our arrival, we discovered she was in preparations to leave her residence. Instead, she instructed her private security team to escort us to her party’s offices (National Resistance Movement, NRM) in the Kakumiro district, assuring us that she would meet with us there. But she did not come back.” Mr. Mbambali Fred, one of the group leaders told Witness Radio.

Little did the affected community members know that their stay at the offices would be short-lived. Initially, they were welcomed by the security officers at the party offices, but their situation took a turn when the District security committee of Kakumiro led by the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr. Matovu David and the District Police Commander (DPC) in the area Mr. Niyonzima Morris visited and questioned them about the reasons for their visit.

Subsequently, PAPs explained that they had been directed to wait at the offices by the Prime Minister. Despite their explanation, the Committee was skeptical and held an emergency meeting to resolve that Kikuube PAPs should leave the premises. The committee stated that the issue raised was not within the mandate of the Kakumiro district and thereafter, were asked to relocate to a different location, not within Kakumiro.

The stern Kakumiro district leaders directed the group to depart and proceed to the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala for their meeting with her.

Shortly after being chased, they proceeded to Kampala via Mityana road, but PAPs sought to rest at one of the churches in the Mityana district. As soon as they occupied the church, Mityana district raided the premises, arrested all of them, and took them to Mityana Central Police Station, claiming that PAPs were posing a threat to the community.

“We were rounded up and arrested without being given any opportunity to explain ourselves. They didn’t even inform us of the reason for our arrest. We were kept at the police for nearly 12 hours without food. Both children and elders were starving, and the children even reached the point of crying because we were not allowed to move. It’s a double punishment to us because we haven’t committed any offense,” Ahumuza Busingye, another defender, told Witness Radio.

They were cautioned and later released without charges.

The Mityana District Police Commander, Mr. Hasunira Ahmed confirmed the arrest, stating that people neighboring the church had lodged complaints with the police about unknown individuals with a large amount of luggage occupying their premises. This led the police to arrest them.

“We received complaints about these individuals occupying a particular church, which posed a potential threat because they hadn’t obtained permission to stay there and didn’t possess a letter authorizing their movement to their destination. That’s why we intervened with an arrest, as many of them looked like rebels,” stated the Mityana District Police Commander.

PAPs arrested are part of the larger group of over 90,000 people evicted between 2013 and 2019 in 29 villagers by the office of the Prime minister (OPM) to give their land to the refugees in Katikala and Bukinda in Kyangwali district.

The community was evicted by officials led by Charles Bafaki from the Office of the Prime Minister, accompanied by the police and Uganda People Defence Forces (UPDF), from their land measuring 36 square kilometers located in various villages, including Bukinda A and B, Bukinda 2, Kavule, Bwizibwera A and B, Kyeya A and B, Nyaruhanga, Kabirizi, Nyamigisa A and B, and Katoma, all in Kyangwali sub-county for the Kyangwali refugee resettlement camp.

Despite receiving various directives, including two from the President, instructing the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) officials to facilitate the return of the residents to their land, they have chosen to turn a deaf ear and disregard the implementation of these directives.

In 2016 and 2018, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni issued directives to resettle PAPs back to their ancestral land, but unfortunately, these directives remained unimplemented.

In 2021, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja visited the victims and promised action, which, as of the time of writing this article, it’s yet to be realized.

On March 1, 2022, Minister of Relief, Disaster Preparedness, and Refugees, Mr. Hilary Onek, accused the victims of encroaching on government land. He also criticized local leaders and officials for potential involvement in stage-managed evictions.

In 2022, approximately 1,000 of the evictees camped at the office of the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner, Amlan Tumusiime, demanding his intervention to help them return to their land. Unfortunately, this intervention did not materialize. Some of the evictees sought shelter in temporary shelters provided by Florence Natumanya, the Kikuube Woman MP, and Francis Kazini, the Buhaguzi Member of Parliament, while others continued to search for livelihoods in other parts of the country.

“People are suffering immensely, and we are witnessing deaths without having a proper place to bury our loved ones. No one is coming to our rescue, and it’s heartbreaking to see our children deprived of education, as they are the future of tomorrow,” expressed the community members in an interview with Witness Radio.

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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

Breaking: A community land rights defender in Kiryandongo is arrested for attempting to open a case against company workers who erased his garden.

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By Witness Radio team.

A community land rights defender, known for his steadfast efforts in mobilizing Kiryandongo district communities against land grabbing by multinational corporations, has been arbitrarily arrested and detained at Kiryandongo central police, Witness Radio has learned.

According to his close relatives, Mwawula Fred, based in Kisalanda village, Mutunda parish, Kiryandongo district, was arrested and detained on Thursday, February 29th, 2024, at Kiryandongo police while attempting to open a criminal case against workers of Great Seasons SMC Limited for destroying his maize and green pepper garden with a tractor.

On the 22nd of February 2024, four Great Seasons SMC Limited Company workers with a tractor invaded and erased the community defender’s garden with crops ready for harvest such as maize, green pepper, and tomatoes. The workers used a numberless company tractor to destroy the defender’s 3 acres of crops.

Meanwhile, the defender bravely tried to intervene to stop the destruction of his crops but, workers callously persisted with their destructive actions, disregarding the defender’s pleas to cease their illegal land grab bringing in an altercation from both sides. After, company workers made off with sacks full of maize.

Sources, have it that the defender was rounded up at the Kiryandongo Central police counter while opening up a criminal case against company workers. He was arbitrarily arrested and detained on charges of assault.

It alleged that he assaulted workers of the Great Seasons SMC Company Limited who destroyed his crops.

Mr. Mwawula on several occasions has been in and out of prison on several charges over eight times for mobilizing local communities to resist land grabbing and forceful evictions by multinational companies in the Kiryandongo district. However, the court has dismissed all of them for want of prosecution.

Frequently, the gardens belonging to smallholder farmers, activists, and defenders have been targeted and vandalized by Great Seasons SMC Company Limited, demanding that the local community should vacate what the company asserts as its land. In a distressing incident last December 2023, many defenders’ gardens were set ablaze by workers of the company, resulting in a prolonged famine within projected affected families.

Since 2017, when these multinationals started their operations in the Kiryandongo district, nearly 40,000 residents have lost their family lands to violent and forceful evictions to pave the way for industrial agriculture. In addition to the Great Seasons SMC Limited, several multinationals are implicated in land-grabbing activities, such as Kiryandongo Sugar Limited, Agilis Partners Limited, and Somdiam Limited.

Great Seasons SMC Company Limited grows coffee, Agilis Partners grows soya and maize while Kiryandongo Sugar Company and Somdiam Sugar Company grow sugarcane.

The defender is yet to be aligned before the court.

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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK

The Appellate East African Court of Justice sets timelines for hearing an appeal against the construction of the EACOP.

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By Witness Radio team.

The Appellate Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has instructed the four East African civil society organizations (CSOs), which lodged an appeal challenging the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, to submit their written arguments by March 22, 2024. The appeal follows the dismissal of their case in 2023.

The appeal was heard by the following judges: Justice Nestor Kayobera, the President of the EACJ; Justice Anita Mugeni, the Vice President of the EACJ; Justice Kathurina M’Inoti; Justice Cheborion Barishaki; and Justice Omar Othman Makungu.

The organizations were represented by Counsels Justin Semuyaba, David Kabanda, John Baptist Okurut, and Veronica Nakityo, while the respondents were represented by Counsels Hangi M. Chang’a, Mark Mulwambo, and Stanley Kalokole from the Tanzanian team, as well as Counsels George Kalemera, Charity Nabasa, and Mark Muwonge from the Ugandan team. The EAC Secretary General was represented by Dr. Anthony Kafumbe, Counsel for the EAC.

The organizations, which include the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO)-Uganda, Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT)-Uganda, Natural Justice (NJ)-Kenya, and Centre for Strategic Litigation (CSL)-Tanzania, filed a court case against the EACOP at the EACJ in November 2020.
In November 2020, the East African organizations asked the EACJ to issue temporary and permanent injunctions stopping the development of the EACOP.

The organizations argued that the EACOP violates key East African and international treaties and laws including the East African Community (EAC) Treaty, Protocol for Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria basin, Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Others include the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights as well as the African Convention on Conservation of Natural Resources among others.

However, on 29th of November, 2023, the EACJ dismissed the case relying on the preliminary objection raised by the Tanzanian and Ugandan governments regarding the timeframe within which the petition was filed at the EACJ. The EACJ ruled that the applicants filed the petition out of time, thus saying that the petitioners should have filed the petition as early as 2017 instead of 2020. The same court further said it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

The aforementioned organizations appealed against the Court ruling, and subsequently, it was heard on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, by the appellate division of the EACJ. The petitioners were directed to submit their written submissions by March 22, 2024.

The court also asked the governments of Uganda and Tanzania as well as the Secretary General of the EAC, (respondents) to file their counterarguments by April 22, 2024.

Further, the court ordered the appellants to file rejoinders to the counterarguments from Uganda and Tanzania and the EAC Secretary General by May 6, 2024.

Mr. Dickens Kamugisha, representing some of the appellant organizations, expressed satisfaction with steps taken by the Court. He emphasized the reliance of communities and East Africans on their natural and other resources for livelihoods, stressing the need to challenge projects like the EACOP that pose threats to these resources.

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