MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK
Picking up broken pieces: victims of land grabs in Uganda have resolved to put their past aside to build a new life.
Published
2 years agoon

By Witness Radio team.
Despite the dominance of many faces of poverty at a week-long camp that ended last Saturday, the 1st of July, 2023, held in Kassanda district, members of the informal Alliance for victim communities of irresponsible land investments have resolved to use any available opportunity at their disposal to re-build a new life.
In their week-long activity camp, participants were drawn from different parts of Uganda and outside the country to think of opportunities available, peer-to-peer learning and share experiences, testimonies and knowledge network building, and starting and running cooperative unions.
The second alliance camp meeting drew representatives of communities affected by palm oil in Kalangala and Buvuma, evictees of Formosa tree planting company, Bukinda and Katikala evicted by Hoima Sugar Limited, victims of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) from Kapapi in Hoima district, and victims of Kyangwali Refugee Camp and other groups from Uganda. The camp also was joined by Alliance members from West Africa nations.
The 2023 alliance camp was hosted by Bukakikama Cooperative Union, founded by over 10,000 people forcefully evicted off their land by New Forests Company (NFC) to plant monoculture tree plantations (eucalyptus and pine).
The cooperative members, the last five (5) years started teaming up and renting land to grow seasonal crops including maize to find an alternative means of survival as they continue with a struggle to regain their land back.
In February 2010, over 10000 villagers in seven villages woke up to a hail of NFC representatives and graders under the protection of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and the Uganda Police Force (UPF), which in turn were under the command of the then Mubende Resident District Commissioner Nsubuga Bewaayo. They destroyed the villagers’ properties worth billions of Uganda shillings to give way for NFC monoculture plantation.
The evictions rendered people from Kanamire, Kyamukasa, Kigumya, Kyato, Kisita, Mpologoma, and Bulagano villages in the Mubende district landless without consultation, compensation, or resettlement.
The New Forests Company is a U.K based company operating monoculture tree plantations in Uganda. It has plantations in Namwasa in Mubende, Luwunga in Kiboga, and Kirinya in Jinja.
The company has received funds from the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development, Agri-Vie Agribusiness Fund, FMO, European Investment Bank, and HSBC, among others to support its timber and carbon credits activities.
Protecting vulnerable groups, developing less developed countries, and uplifting the livelihoods of the local communities is one objective in common of mentioned NFC funders. But the story is a different story in Mubende, communities revealed that they were violently pushed off their land to unending suffering while the company and the banks continue to profit from their land.
NFC victims were duped and abandoned: In the fight to regain their land, the communities in 2011, with support from civil society groups filed a complaint to the World Bank’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) in relation to an investment made by Agri-Vie Agribusiness Fund, a client of IFC. The complainants raised concerns about forced evictions and displacement in the plantation area and how the evictions had negatively impacted their communities by displacing them from land, destroying their private property, and forcing them to forgo health, education, and livelihood opportunities. The complaint was found eligible for further assessment.
Parties opted to address issues through dispute resolution. What turned out was dumping and duping the community members. Under their Bukakikama Cooperative Union formed in 2013, they received 600 Million Ugx (162538.14 USD) to buy land elsewhere. For the 901 families evicted, the money wired to their account by the company as agreed in the dispute resolution agreement was not enough. Only 453 families were allocated land which is also not equal to what they had. Each was allocated 1 acre (less than half a hectare) of barren land filled with rocks. The remaining 448 families haven’t been compensated or resettled up to date.
After over 15 years of suffering with no land to live on, to practice agriculture which was their sole source of livelihood, or bury their beloved ones. A few of the evictees led by the chairman of the cooperative society, Mr. Julius Ndagize resolved to re-unite to embark on a new journey to restore their livelihoods.
In 2021, the victim community reached out and entered into a gentleman’s agreement with one of the landlords to rent out his 82.9606 hectares to them. They agreed to pay the landlord every after-season harvest. Now the land is being occupied by 130 NFC evictees.
According to the Evictee leaders, their target is to see all NFC evictees get land to live on like they hitherto lived. Despite acquiring 82.9606 hectares for the evictees, the leaders have not relented. They are currently walking on a journey to acquire 906.496 hectares for the rest of the community members in the Mubende district.
Mr. Ndagize Julius adds that with all that land in their hands, the community he is leading will be able to revive their dreams by contributing to family food sovereignty, preserving and protecting ecosystems and welfare of their families.
“Whereas we are pursuing these means, we have not stopped demanding for our grabbed land. We are also continuing to use available opportunities, reaching out to the company funders and other stakeholders to enable us to regain our land and get compensation. It’s a continuous fight we believe we shall win.” The cooperative chairman added.
Journey to start a new life: Upon listening and learning from Bukakikama cooperative experience, the 2023 camp attendees got inspired. And at the end of the camp, one of the resolutions is to replicate Bukikama’s success story.
“We unanimously agreed to go back to our respective localities and start re-mobilizing members of affected communities, bring counsellors and experts on union, legal issues, and modern agriculture issues to build our capacities which will help us get fresh energies and start a new life” Said Stella Akiteng, the Alliance chairperson.
She added that each group’s priority is to re-organize themselves and identify an economic activity to earn money to support their survival without looking at a size of the project.
The Alliance members in Uganda resolved to speak with one voice against the escalating forced land evictions in Uganda.
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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK
The Taiwanese investor & Others: Dozens of community land and environmental rights defenders are in prison for opposing his aggressive land acquisition tactics.
Published
4 days agoon
February 5, 2025
By Witness Radio team.
An independent investigation by Witness Radio has revealed that a tree plantation co-owned by the Taiwanese has aided the criminalization of over 20 community land defenders’ work in Mubende District and caused prison sentences ranging from 30 months to 34 years, respectively.
Witness Radio is a Ugandan-based not-for-profit organization that uses legal aid support and media-oriented approaches, such as investigative, data, and advocacy journalism, to protect and promote the land and environmental rights of local and Indigenous communities in development.
These investigations, spanning two months, have unearthed a staggering 23 cases of criminalization against defenders since Quality Parts commenced operations in Mubende District in 2011. These arbitrary arrests, kidnaps, raids of defenders’ homes at night, assaults, tortures, and alleged aiding of unfair convictions are a stark reminder of the profound injustice faced by those who oppose the company’s land grab of the community land.
For many years, Quality Parts Limited has deployed Mubende district police, private security firms, and company workers to carry out intimidation, coercion, and manipulation. No community member has ever been consulted or consented to the removal of their land.
In their unwavering commitment, these defenders are protecting a community of smallholder farmers who have lawfully occupied and cultivated their land for over five (5) decades. Most smallholder farmers have legal documents proving their legitimate land ownership, starkly contrasting the injustice they face.
Quality Parts Uganda Limited, incorporated in 2000, operates plantations of pine and eucalyptus trees in Mubende district, southwestern Uganda. The company is co-owned by Taiwanese investor Chang Shu-mu, known as Martin Chang, and his wife, Anna Kyoheirwe.
When writing this report, nine (9) community defenders are serving prison sentences ranging from 30 months to 34 years in Muyinayina and Kaweeri government prisons in the Mubende district, with the majority facing multiple offenses. According to Witness Radio interviews, more community defenders allege that the company regularly threatens community land defenders that they will face the same fate if they continue to oppose its actions.
In the latest incident, hell broke loose in the early morning hours of January 29, 2024, when four Quality Parts Uganda Ltd company workers, guarded by three armed police officers in casual attire (later it was established to be attached to Mubende Central Police Station), attacked, beat, and arbitrarily arrested three land rights defenders based in Kicuculo village, Kiruuma Sub-county in Mubende district accusing them of destroying the tree plantation. It was the second brutal arrest of the trio.
The three defenders, Byakatonda David, Kabuuka Levi, and Byamukama Yuda, the Kicucuulo Village chairman, were briefly taken to Mubende Police before being aligned before Mubende district Magistrates’ Court. They were charged with malicious property damage and remanded to Kaweeri Prison on the same day.
Mr. Byamukama Yuda is one of those serving a 30-month sentence at Muyinayina Prison; an interview with Witness Radio revealed that three armed Police officers from Mubende and company officials raided his home at 5 a.m., manhandled and assaulted, and arrested him without explanation.
“In the early hours of the morning, the group raided my home and ordered me to open the door. At first, I hesitated because I had no idea who they were since they never introduced themselves. But when they started aggressively banging one of my house’s doors, my wife and I had no choice but to open it. The moment I did, my eyes met the furious faces of armed officers who humiliated and assaulted me in front of my wife and children before forcefully arresting me without offering any explanation. These officers threw me into a waiting saloon car whose number plates I can’t recall, where I found workers from Quality Parts. Instead of offering any clarity about my arrest, they just threatened me, accusing me of being ‘big-headed. Within minutes, they sped off to my son Levi’s home, where he, too, was arbitrarily arrested alongside me,” Byamukama revealed.
Another defender, 62-year-old Byakatonda David, was forcefully arrested by masked gangs wielding machetes, led by a man named Kayumba, affiliated with Quality Parts Uganda Ltd. He revealed, “These men told me that the police had instructed them to arrest me and take me to join the other two who had been arrested earlier (Byamukama and Kabuuka). They forcefully arrested threatening to cause more harm to me in case I tried to resist,” the defender told Witness Radio.
They further revealed that their continued mobilization of community members (villagers) to resist the company’s land grab continues to lead to their criminalization. This continued criminalization highlights the deep-rooted injustices that defenders face when opposing harmful development projects. The trio spent five months on remand at Kaweeri prison, appeared in court over 18 times, and emphasized that their conviction was made in bad faith.
“First of all, this case was unnecessarily delayed, as either the state or the magistrate frequently absented themselves, forcing us to appear in court numerous times. The trial was also unfair, as we were never allowed to defend ourselves. Also, the evidence presented was fake. In the ruling, the magistrate stated that the testimony of four witnesses satisfied the court, yet only three appeared, and even their evidence was questionable,” Mr. Byakatonda further mentioned.
Witness Radio has also established that powerful multinational companies are using police, district officials, and court personnel to aid land grabbing. The same system weakens the poor landowners and forces them to surrender their land for Quality Parts. “When we try to resist, they oppress us. The company tells us they are backed by government officials and other powerful individuals in security forces, which is evident because even when we report our cases to authorities, little or no action is taken. They tell us we have no power to oppose the investors,” Byamukama expressed his disappointment.
On June 21, 2024, the three were convicted of malicious damage to property and sentenced to 30 months in Muyinayina prison despite inconsistencies in the evidence presented by witnesses.
The charges against the community defenders stem from a violent incident on December 6, 2022, when a group of over 20 casual workers linked to Quality Parts Uganda Ltd attacked the village of Kicucuulo, hacked people, and destroyed property, including houses and crops. These workers raided the homes of outspoken community members, cut people with pangas, and beat everyone they found in their homes, threatening to kill them if they didn’t leave the land. Three people were hacked, while properties worth millions of Shillings were destroyed.
Despite the violence they endured that day, those who were hacked and others whose property was destroyed were arrested when they went to report the incident to Mubende police.
Meanwhile, the company workers responsible for the harm remained untouched. At that time, the defenders, Kabuka Levi, Lubwama Robert, Bulegeya Erisa, Byakatonda David, and Byamukama Yuda, were arrested, interrogated, and made to record statements before being released on police bond.
“When we reached Mubende police, we were all arrested and interrogated for almost an hour before recording statements on malicious damage charges. The company claimed we cut its trees, which we did not do,” Mr. Kabuka Levi told Witness Radio in an interview in 2023.
Witness Radio’s investigations have also found out that by the time the alleged tree cutting took place, as said by the company and its witnesses in court, that is the same time, the accused were treating wounds from the previous attack by the company workers, raising questions on whether the accused were the real suspects.
“It is unfortunate that people accused of committing land-related crimes against the ‘investor’ are landowners who have for generations occupied and cultivated their land until they faced this violent land grab. Duty bearer agencies have been captured and are being used to target defenders and activists pushing back forced evictions,” Witness Radio’s Team Leader Jeff Wokulira Ssebaggala said.
The Mubende Magistrates Court eventually dismissed the case on October 17, 2023, due to a lack of evidence. However, in January 2024, the three Byamukama, Byakatonda, and Kabuuka were arrested, charged, and convicted again for the same offense of cutting the company’s trees.
This trend of persecution has instilled fear in the majority of the community, with a saying: “You accept what the company wants, or you go to jail for opposing it.” Other individuals arrested for resisting the company’s land grab include Kaberuka Fenehansi, who died last year while serving a prison sentence; Sinamenya Paul, Ssemombwe Richard, Ategeka Esau, Bukenya Godfrey, Ssebanenya Yona, and Sserugo Sam, all serving sentences ranging from 15 to 34 years.
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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK
Details Revealed: Who’s a Taiwanese Investor linked to forcefully taking over 2500 hectares of land that belonged to local farmers in the Mubende district for a tree plantation project?
Published
2 weeks agoon
January 28, 2025
By Witness Radio team.
A new wave of industrial tree plantation projects rapidly expands across Africa, significantly impacting local lives and livelihoods. Investors have continued to pour large sums of money into these plantations for carbon credits, timber, and other business projects. As companies seek more land for expansion, the burden often falls on communities whose land is targeted to host the project. This practice, known as ‘land grabbing, ‘involves the large-scale acquisition of land by investors, often at the expense of local communities.
Ugandan communities are among those hardest hit by the effects of these investments. Witness Radio Uganda’s investigation has uncovered a pressing issue: over 2000 people living in more than 10 villages have been evicted by a Taiwanese tree-planting company in the Mubende district. This situation demands immediate attention and action.
Quality Parts Uganda Limited, incorporated in 2000, operates plantations of pine and eucalyptus trees on grabbed land in Mubende district, southwestern Uganda.
The company is currently owned by Taiwanese investor Chang Shu-mu, commonly known as Martin Chang, and his wife, Anna Kyoheirwe. According to Witness Radio’s findings, Chang’s wife, Anna Kyoheirwe, owns 55 percent of the shareholding of the Quality Parts Uganda Limited company, while Chang owns the rest, 45 percent.
Initially founded in November 2000 by four individuals—Chang Shu-mu, Teng Chien Hwa, Yang Tien Won, and Phillip K.T. Chang. Quality Parts Uganda Limited underwent a leadership change in 2009. That year, the company appointed Anna Kyoheirwe as a new director, replacing the trio of Teng Chien Hwa, Yang Tien Won, and Phillip K.T. Chang.
Quality Parts Uganda Limited is also the Ugandan distributor of a Taiwanese company called TPI Bearings, which makes various ball bearings used in multiple industries, including automotive and household appliances.
Since 2011, when the company entered the land, more than 2590 hectares belonging to thousands of local farmers have been forcefully taken, and the investors continue to expand their boundaries, targeting more land.
The land taken so far has been hosting eleven (11) villages: Butoro, Kyedikyo, Nakasozi, Namayindi, Kitebe, Kisiigwa, Namagadi, Mukiguluka, Busaabala, Ngabano, and Kicucuulo, located in Maduddu and Butoloogo sub-counties, Mubende district.
Eighty-four (84%) percent of the Ugandan population still lives in rural areas, and agriculture remains the primary source of income and the main pathway out of poverty for most Ugandans.
Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy, employing about 70% of the population and contributing around 25% of the country’s GDP.
Local farmers, who were found lawfully occupying and cultivating their land to grow food for their families, to be able to send their children to school, and to meet basic needs, have been unfairly targeted. Dozens have been framed as criminals and are now languishing in prisons, including Muyinayina government prison. The investors have criminalized their garden tools and pieces of land to make profits, leaving them in a dire situation.
Decent living has become a serious challenge as victims of a land grab cannot find houses to stay in, no land to grow food for their families, and children have since dropped out of school.
We urge you to join us in this campaign to hold Chang Shu-mu, the owner of Quality Parts Limited, and his wife, Anna Kyoheirwe, responsible for gross human rights abuses. Your involvement is crucial in bringing about accountability and justice in this situation.
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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK
An early bird: oil-affected communities have launched a petition to the Lands Ministry, seeking protection of their rights in the face of forced acquisitions.
Published
2 weeks agoon
January 23, 2025
By Witness Radio team,
Nearly 100 individuals have petitioned the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development with a sense of urgency in 2025. They stress the immediate need to address policy gaps that protect women, youth, and others during compulsory land acquisitions.
The 93 signatories of the petition have passionately voiced their pain and dissatisfaction over the inadequate and unfair compensation for their land taken for oil development activities, the marginalization of women in land ownership, and the far-reaching impacts of compulsory land acquisitions. These injustices have perpetuated their suffering, making the petition a crucial step toward addressing their plight.
In their petition dated January 21st, 2025, addressed to the Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development (MLHUD) in Uganda, Hon. Judith Nabakooba, the signatories urgently urged the ministry to engage with the judiciary to stop the indirect amendment of Article 26 of the Constitution by allowing Project Affected Persons (PAPs) compensation to be deposited in Court. They also called on the ministry to collaborate with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to review relevant laws to ensure the timely hearing and resolution of cases filed by PAPs.
United in their cause, the petitioners from Bulisa, Hoima, Lwengo, and Kyotera districts, under their group, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Affected People’s Network, share a common experience. They were all affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project in Tilenga and Kingfisher projects.
“Hon. Minister, we are sure that you have heard complaints by PAPs from across the country who decry the delayed payment and inadequate and unfair compensation to them when the government compulsorily acquires their land. Delayed, inadequate, and unfair compensation negatively affects citizens, as it undermines their capacity to replace all the land they lose to government projects,” the petition reads in part.
According to the petitioners, different media and research reports have often exposed their suffering, but neither the government nor concerned organizations have addressed these issues.
The petition comes barely three months after the Court allowed the government of Uganda to evict over 80 EACOP PAP’s households. On October 1st, 2024, the Masaka High Court ruled against 80 Project-Affected Persons (PAPs) from the Lwengo, Kyotera, and Rakai districts.
Despite facing numerous challenges, the PAPs remained steadfast. Many of them rejected the compensation because it was inadequate. Others were embroiled in land disputes, and some households lacked land titles, but this never stopped the Court from allowing the government to take their land for oil interests.
A similar incident happened on December 8th, 2023, when the Hoima High Court allowed the government to evict 42 households for the Total Energies’ Tilenga oil project in the Bulisa district. This followed a court ruling that the households opposed to offering compensation for their land and other properties should be deposited in the Court’s bank account. The rushed court ruling arrived barely four days after the case had been filed and offered a single court hearing.
Also, in 2020, the government of Uganda, through the Attorney General, sued nine Tilenga project-affected households, including Happy Ignatius, Tundulu John, Aheebwa Korokoni, and others, accusing them of frustrating the implementation of the Tilenga Oil project in Kasenyi village, Ngwedo sub-county in Buliisa district. The nine refused the low compensation of 3.5 million per acre that was being given under Resettlement Action Plan 1. In 2021, the Masindi High Court allowed the government to deposit the household’s compensation in Court.
The EACOP is planned to be constructed on a 1,443km pipeline from Western Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. The pipeline will transport crude oil from Uganda’s Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields to export markets.
The petitioners revealed that the government’s acquisition of their land forcefully undermines Article 26 of the 1995 Constitution. Article 26 guarantees the right to property and fair and adequate compensation in compulsory acquisition cases.
“The cases we file in Court take ages to be ruled on. For instance, there is a case that one of our affected group members filed in 2014, challenging delayed and inadequate compensation and demanding the construction of houses for some PAPs. However, to this day, no ruling has been made. Meanwhile, cases where the government has sued the PAPs are concluded in a much shorter time,” one of the petitioners told Witness Radio.
Additionally, they requested the ministry to speedily complete and operationalize an engendered Land Acquisition, Resettlement, and Rehabilitation Policy (LARRP) that addresses the needs of women, youth, and other vulnerable groups and protects women, youth, and other PAPs from the impacts of delayed inadequate and unfair compensation.
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Invisible victims of Uganda Land Grabs
Resource Center
- LAND GRABS AT GUNPOINT REPORT IN KIRYANDONGO DISTRICT
- The Mouila Declaration of the Informal Alliance against the Expansion of Industrial Monocultures
- FORCED LAND EVICTIONS IN UGANDA TRENDS RIGHTS OF DEFENDERS IMPACT AND CALL FOR ACTION
- 12 KEY DEMANDS FROM CSOS TO WORLD LEADERS AT THE OPENING OF COP16 IN SAUDI ARABIA
- PRESENDIANTIAL DIRECTIVE BANNING ALL LAND EVICTIONS IN UGANDA
- FROM LAND GRABBERS TO CARBON COWBOYS A NEW SCRAMBLE FOR COMMUNITY LANDS TAKES OFF
- African Faith Leaders Demand Reparations From The Gates Foundation.
- GUNS, MONEY AND POWER GRABBED OVER 1,975,834 HECTARES OF LAND; BROKE FAMILIES IN MUBENDE DISTRICT.
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MEDIA FOR CHANGE NETWORK2 weeks ago
Details Revealed: Who’s a Taiwanese Investor linked to forcefully taking over 2500 hectares of land that belonged to local farmers in the Mubende district for a tree plantation project?
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