By witnessradio.org Team
The first-ever meeting convened for victims of land evictions in Uganda has been dominated by sad tales of how land grabbers connive with local and national leaders to grab community land.
The meeting held in Kalangala brought together victims from Kalangala, Kiryandongo, Mubende Kaweeri, Mubende Kambuye, Bumanje, Buvuma, and Mukono, Nakifuma among others.
Speaker after speaker, the victims narrated how multinational and national companies forcibly grabbed their land without negotiation or compensation.
“We just saw people surveying our land and later graders started bringing down everything on the land. We tried to run to our local leaders for help but in vain” Said Muyiisa John, the head of the affected community in Kalangala.
“Ours came with teargas and many people were beaten up. People run for their dear lives and up to now, some are still missing.” Sara Pasikaali, a victim forcefully lost her land to the New Forest Company (NFC) told fellow victims as they shared experiences.
“In Kiryandongo, we were never compensated. The local leaders were bribed and not even the security organs helped. Instead, they attacked us, and out of the over 35000 people, we are now a few people still pushing for justice”. Benon Balyeija a victim of Kiryandongo.
One thing is clear with all the land grabs that the grabbers connive with the leaders to dispossess people without any compensation or negotiations.
Speaking to the victims on land legislation in Uganda, a former member of parliament for the Nakifuma county Mukono district, Joseph Mugambe says the grabbers continue to thrive on ignorant communities and manipulate the law to suit their interests.
“The problem is multifaceted, the communities are ignorant of the law, the land has been commoditized, and this has been worsened by high levels of corruption in the country”.
He advises that the government focuses on supporting small scale holders to grow the agricultural industry.
The Head of the Alliance on Food sovereignty in Africa, Uganda office, Bridget Mugambe says that the major purpose of holding such meeting is to allow people to share experiences and learn from one another on how to push back on land grabs.
The team from Uganda also heard from members of the alliance in West Africa who advised them to lead the struggle to rescue their land.
“The battle is yours to fight. Do not look at Civil society organizations or leaders because it is your land. It has not been easy for us either, we were arrested, trumped-up charges brought up against us, but we stood our ground and that is how we were able to win”. Said Nasako Besinge the coordinator of the Alliance in Cameroon said
There are skyrocketing cases of and grabbing by multinational companies who engage in large scale farming at the expense of native communities that are thrown into poverty.
