By Witness Radio team
Hoima chief magistrate court has issued criminal summons against thirteen suspects including an army general to appear in court this Thursday, the 12th of October, 2023, to take a plea over seven criminal charges committed while illegally evicting over 2500 people on their land to give way to East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.
Criminal case file no. 877 of 2023 at Hoima court contains various criminal offenses namely; sexual abuse, rape, criminal trespass, arson, looting properties, battering people, and forcefully evicting residents from their homes, which constitutes a violation of the non-derogable right to freedom from torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment, as guaranteed under Article 23 And 44 of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.
Each charge attracts different punishments on conviction, as shown below;
Section 124 of the Penal Code states that punishment for rape on conviction is liable to suffer death; punishment for assault on court conviction is five years; punishment threatening violence on court conviction does not exceed four years; punishment for arson on court conviction is fourteen years; and Punishment for robbery, one has to suffer life imprisonment among others.
It follows the EACOP Project-Affected Persons (PAPs) of the Kapapi community through their lawyers Arinaitwe Peter and Company Advocates to start criminal proceedings at Hoima Chief Magistrates Court against the thirteen suspects.
Brig. Gen. Peter Akankunda Nabasa, Gafayo Ndawula William, Kyakashari Micheal (Deputy Resident District Commissioner in Hoima, Oketcha Micheal, Bogere Patrick, Hoima Rural District Police Commander, one Kiiza Nathan Byarugonjo, Oromo Luzira, Secretary Local Council One for Runga, Mukindo Bosco, Okethi Bosco, Oming Jacob, Muswa Micheal, Kawiya Henry, Ningaling Joseph, and others still at large, are among suspects to be charged by court on October, 12th, 2023.
The 1st accused person is the Deputy Commander of Uganda Peoples Defense Forces, First Division Kakiri in Wakiso District; The 2nd accused person, is a Businessman with Businesses in Hoima District; the 3rd Accused is Deputy RDC Hoima District. The 4th accused is the Hoima Rural District Police Commander. The 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th & and 13th accused persons are residents of Kapapi Village and were agents of the evictors.
According to the charge sheet, the accused persons and their agents in the wee hours (1:00AM) 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 to 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 livestocks and food items and forced eviction from their land.
The actions of the accused led to the grabbing of 1294.99 hectares that were being 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 research findings by Witness Radio, the individuals involved in the Kapapi land grab are targeting to benefit from the potential compensation intended for community members, given that their land was identified to be impacted by the Tilenga Resettlement Action Plan 4, an EACOP project.
In one of its reports, Total Energies Uganda identified Kapapi, Runga, Waaki, and Kiryatete villages as areas that will be affected by the proposed Tilenga Feeder Pipeline Component (RAP 4).
The court process will kick off at 9:30 am local time.
