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Six community land rights defenders have been set free after spending three years on remand without trial on murder charges.

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By Witness Radio – Team

The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Ms. Jane Francis Abodo has withdrawn murder charges against six land rights defenders who were arrested, charged, and sent to prison in 2019. 

On Friday, the 24th of June, 2022, Mubende Grade one Magistrate Her Worship Atim Harriet Okello signed a release order to free the six defenders who have been on remand without trial.

Tumusiime Benjamin, Bagirana Innocent, Habana Domoro, Miyingo Gerald, Byangaramani Charles, and Byekwaso Fred were arrested in February 2019 by armed policemen attached to Mubende police on orders of one Naava Milly Namutebi. They were accused of empowering the community to resist forced evictions. 

The defenders were fighting to stop forced eviction on land measuring 3.5 square miles covering villages namely; 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.

The current update on the grabbed land indicates that it’s still raw land.

The defenders’ imprisonment was intended to eliminate them after they were framed for having killed one Mbabazi Samuel who was a casual laborer to a self-claimed landlord Naava Milly Namutebi.  

One of the imprisoned defenders Tumusiime Benjamin narrated that before they were detained on murder charges, Mubende police had earlier arrested and charged them with aggravated robbery, a case that was also land-related, and released them on police bond.

On March, 2nd, 2019 while reporting on bond, they were instead re-arrested taken to Mubende magistrate court to be charged with murder, and remanded to Kaweeri Prison. 

“One day while we were being taken to court for our case mention, a prison officer told us we don’t deserve to be free since we are killers, but some of us even did not know the worker they accused us of killing”, Tumusiime narrated. 

Tumusiime further narrated that after six months on remand, they were taken back to the same court, which committed them to the High court to be tried, and later, remanded to different prisons which include Muyinaina, Kaweeri, and Kitalya respectively, adding that they had never been brought back to court until their release.

“As soon as we were eliminated (arrested and imprisoned), Naava found ease in grabbing more land because the community was left in cold upon learning about our arrest and imprisonment. She deployed the army and private security guards that have been protecting the grabbed land.” Tumusiime added. 

Such tactics of weakening land rights defenders through abusive criminal charges are on the rise in Uganda. Not only in the Mubende district where such abusive charges are used to silence defenders but also in other areas that experience rampant land grabs namely; Kiryandongo, Kayunga, Hoima, Buliisa, Moroto, and other districts in Uganda.

“Take notice that government of Uganda intends to discontinue proceedings against 6 charged with murder” A legal notice seen by Witness Radio – Uganda and signed by the DPP on the 22nd of May 2022 reads in part

Since 2012, Naava with support from a senior officer of Uganda People Defense Forces Major Eric Kigamboha have displaced over 4000 people from their land without a court order and continues to perpetrate violence against families that are still staying on the land.

“We used to sleep in the bush to avoid being attacked at night by armed gangs employed by Naava. People were beaten, arbitrarily arrested, and accused of trumped-up charges. Since then, some have been forced to vacate the land for fear of their lives.” Mr. Ssesazi Christopher another defender told Witness Radio – Uganda.

Whereas Benjamin and others were released, their lives remain distorted, their land was grabbed by Naava and they now depend on well-wishers for their survival. “My family separated. I had two wives and 20 children but all separated looking for their means of survival. My children stopped going to school and the girls were married because ideally, they had nothing to feed on or where to go. In addition to that, all 40 acres of my land were grabbed. I remained with only my little house,” Benjamin revealed.

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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Statement: The Energy Sector Strategy 2024–2028 Must Mark the End of the EBRD’s Support to Fossil Fuels

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is due to publish a new Energy Sector Strategy before the end of 2023. A total of 130 civil society organizations from over 40 countries have released a statement calling on the EBRD to end finance for all fossil fuels, including gas.

From 2018 to 2021, the EBRD invested EUR 2.9 billion in the fossil energy sector, with the majority of this support going to gas. This makes it the third biggest funder of fossil fuels among all multilateral development banks, behind the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank.

The EBRD has already excluded coal and upstream oil and gas fields from its financing. The draft Energy Sector Strategy further excludes oil transportation and oil-fired electricity generation. However, the draft strategy would continue to allow some investment in new fossil gas pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, as well as gas power generation and heating.

In the statement, the civil society organizations point out that any new support to gas risks locking in outdated energy infrastructure in places that need investments in clean energy the most. At the same time, they highlight, ending support to fossil gas is necessary, not only for climate security, but also for ensuring energy security, since continued investment in gas exposes countries of operation to high and volatile energy prices that can have a severe impact on their ability to reach development targets. Moreover, they underscore that supporting new gas transportation infrastructure is not a solution to the current energy crisis, given that new infrastructure would not come online for several years, well after the crisis has passed.

The signatories of the statement call on the EBRD to amend the Energy Sector Strategy to

  • fully exclude new investments in midstream and downstream gas projects;
  • avoid loopholes involving the use of unproven or uneconomic technologies, as well as aspirational but meaningless mitigation measures such as “CCS-readiness”; and
  • strengthen the requirements for financial intermediaries where the intended nature of the sub-transactions is not known to exclude fossil fuel finance across the entire value chain.

Source: iisd.org

Download the statement: https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-09/ngo-statement-on-energy-sector-strategy-2024-2028.pdf

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PETITIONS

Complaint against unprofessional conduct of the DPC Kiryandongo district for aiding and abetting land grabbing in kiryandongo district.

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The Commandant,

Professional Standards Unit, Uganda Police-Kampala.

Dear Sir/Madam;

RE: COMPLAINT AGAINST UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF THE DPC KIRYANDONGO DISTRICT FOR AIDING AND ABETTING LAND GRABBING IN NYAMUTENDE KITWARA PARISH KIRYANDONGO DISTRICT AND CARRYING OUT ILLEGAL ARRESTS AND DETENTION OF INNOCENT RESIDENTS/ BIBANJA OWNERS FOR PROTESTING AGAINST THE ILLEGAL EVICTION FROM THEIR LAND.

We act for and behalf of the Lawful and bonafide occupants of Land described as LRV MAS 2 FOLIO 8 BLOCK 8 PLOT 22 (FORMERLY KNOWN AS RANCH 22).

Our Clients are residents of Nyamutende Village, Kitwara Parish in Kiryandongo District where they have lived for more than 30 years and sometime in 2017, they applied for a lease of the said Land to Kiryandongo District Land Board through the Directorate of Land Matters State House.

As they were still awaiting their Application to be processed, they were shocked to establish that the said land had been instead leased to and registered in the names of Isingoma Julius, Mwesige Simon, John Musokota William, Tumusiime Gerald, Wabwire Messener Gabriel, Ocema Richard and Wilson Shikhama, some of whom were not known to the Complainants. A copy of the Search is attached hereto

Our clients protested the above action and appealed to relevant offices, but were shocked to discover that the above persons had gone ahead and sold the same to a one Maseruka Robert.

Aggrieved by these actions, the Complainants appealed to the RDC who advised them to institute proceedings against the said persons, and assigned them a one Mbabazi Samuel to assist them to that effect. The said Mbabazi accordingly filed Civil Suit Noa 46 of 2019 against tne said registered proprietors at Masindi High Court challenging the illegal and fraudulent registration, sale and transfer of the subject land to Maseruka Robert.

While awaiting the progress of the case mentioned hereinabove, the Complainants were surprised to find that the said Mbabazi, instead of assisting them, he went into a consent settling the said suit on their behalf without their knowledge or consent. A copy of the Consent is attached hereto.

Among the terms of the said consent Judgment was that the residents would be compensated without specifying how much and would in return vacate the Land.

As if that was not enough, Maseruka Robert and Mbabazi Samuel are going ahead to execute the said Consent Judgment by forcefully evicting the occupants without compensation which has prompted the complainants to challenge the said Consent by applying for its review and setting aside at Masindi High Court which is coming up for hearing on the 29th March 2023. A copy of the Application is attached hereto.

Sensing the imminent threat of eviction, we also filed an application for interim stay of execution of the said consent to avoid rendering their application for review nugatory but unfortunately the same could not be heard on the date it was fixed for hearing (6th February 2023). A copy of the Application is attached hereto

On Thursday last week, three tractors being operated by 6 workers of a one Mbabazi Samuel [the very person who had been entrusted to represent our Clients to secure their Land through Civil Suit No.46 of 2019] encroached close to 50 acres of our Clients’ land and started ploughing it but our Client’s protested and chased them away.

We have however been shocked to receive information from our Clients that on Sunday at Mid night, 3 police patrols invaded the community in the night and arrested community members; Mulenje Jack, Steven Kagyenji, Mulekwa David, Ntambala Geoffrey, Tumukunde Isaac 15 years, Kanunu Innocent, Mukombozi Frank, Kuzara, Rwamunyankole Enock, and took them to Kiryandongo Police Station where they are currently detained.

We strongly protest the illegal arrests and detention of our Clients as this is a carefully orchestrated land grabbing scheme by Maseruka Robert and Mbabazi Samuel who are  receiving support from the DPC Kiryandongo.

The purpose of this Letter therefore is to request your good office to investigate the misconduct, abuse of office and unprofessionalism of the said DPC Kiryandongo District and all his involvement in the land grabbing schemes on land formerly known as Ranch 22.

Looking forward to your urgent intervention,

C.C The Head Police Land Protection Unit Police Head Quarters Naguru

CC The RDC Kiryandongo District

CC The Chairman LCVKityadongo District

CC The Regional Police CommanderAlbertine Region

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WITNESS RADIO MILESTONES

The Executive Director of Witness Radio Uganda talks about the role played by Witness Radio in protecting communities affected by large-scale agribusinesses in Kiryandongo district in an interview with the ILC.

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