DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Uganda: A decade of land grabs with impunity

Published

3 years ago

March 20, 2022

A farmer displays banana plants that were cutdown by company workers.

It is now a decade down the road since thousands of people fled their homes in fear for their dear lives. It was a nadir in their lives – the land grab was the lowest moment for the peasant communities. Arrests, charges, malicious prosecutions, convictions, and imprisonment followed. Amidst all these, incarceration was inevitable for the poor and unrepresented accused to pave way for the tree planting company owned by Chinese “investors.”

Despite the forceful and violent evictions of their peers, some of the smallholder farmers have stayed put. Though the fear of an inhumane eviction still lurks around, they are not vacating their land, and are not ready to go down without a fight.

The year 2011 still lingers in the memories of the smallholder farmers albeit being traumatizing. With its violence and forceful evictions of smallholder farmers by a foreign company under the protection of Mubende police came. As we write, the onslaught has “gifted” it with 2590 hectares of forcefully grabbed land that was once a source of livelihood to the poor native communities.

Since then, more than 2000 people have been evicted in more than 12 villages. They include; Butoro, Kyedikyo, Nakasozi, Namayindi, Kitebe, Kisiigwa, Namagadi, Mukiguluka, Busaabala, Ngabano, and Kicucuulo located both in Maduddu and Butoloogo sub-counties, Mubende district. Thousands are still being threatened.

Civic groups, rights activists, and the victims have continuously complained over the company’s long forced evictions nothing has materialized. A clear message from their government is that it does not speak for peasants, a batch of third-class citizens. With government backing, the company has chosen to apply both insidious and overt means to further alienate land from the poor.

As day follows night, the company continues to grow more powerful, and probably, more than the state. Its influence has eaten up the criminal justice system. They follow a carefully crafted script to aid in the land grab. After stripping the smallholder farmers of their source of livelihood – the company militarized land grab and criminalized farming activities of poor peasants. Land defenders were arrested, detained, arraigned before court, and charged with trumped-up charges. Up-to-date they have never been released.

According to Mr. Konyenza Sakali, land conflicts between the smallholder farmers and the company led to the arrest and imprisonment of his father, Mr. Kaberuka Fenehansi for 15 years since 2018 and now fears that the company is targeting him.

“I have always resisted but what they do is to kidnap, arrest and charge you to weaken you and grab your land. My father is now 71 years but because he resisted giving them his land, he is now in jail. He was slapped with unscrupulous charges,” he revealed.

Mr. Kaberuka Fenehansi is one of the seven community land rights defenders that the Mubende High Court sentenced 34 and 15 years in jail respectively. This arose from the unending wrangles and the company’s continued violence and land grabbing that allegedly led to the death of the then Formosa farm manager.

Witness Radio – Uganda appealed against the conviction and the sentence on behalf of the imprisoned community land rights defenders. The hearing date of the appeal is yet to be fixed.

The prosecution alleged that on 17th of July 2018, Ssemombwe Richard, Ategeka Esau, Bukenya Godfrey, Ssebanenya Yona, Sinamenya Paula, Kaberuka Fenehansi, and Sserugo Sam at Butolo village, Maduddu Sub County in Mubende district, unlawfully caused the death of one Tumwine Stephen who was a manager of Formosa Forest Company.

“I have continued to receive reports of forceful eviction of my people on their land without compensation. Days ago, I called the Farm Manager asking him why these actions are continuous but he had no answer. One time I found the Formosa workers uprooting and slashing crops of the residents. When they saw me they took off,” Mr. Ngenda Paul, the Local Council Chairperson of Butolo, one of the affected villages narrated.

Residents said the company either bullyrags them to sell their land or evicts them without fair, prompt, and adequate compensation or resettlement. Through this method, the company has grabbed more land.

“What they do is to coerce some people to sell land to them, when they do it, they then grab the neighboring pieces of land. The next day you find them planting trees on land they claim to have purchased,” Mr. Mukonyeza Sakali, one of the affected residents said.

“What kind of land purchased is that without signatures of the local council leaders? How do you prove that you have bought it when neighbors are not around, what if someone cons you?” the Chairperson asked.

Part of Mr. Mukonyeza’s land was grabbed by the company after forcefully purchased his neighbor’s land. He said he was never consulted or informed when the purchase took place. The father of 10 added that his crops were all slashed, and the following day he watched helplessly as the company’s workers began planting trees.

“They said they shall use all the tactics to evict us from our land which they claim is theirs. Even when we grow crops, they are always destroyed or uprooted by the workers of the company. When we ask why they tell us we have no land. But how can a company which has just come into our country say we have no land. I am 46, and I was born on the land,” he added.

Annet Nannyonjo and a mother of 11 and a wife to Ssalongo Ssemombwe Richard, one of those that were sentenced to 34 years said the company grabbed their land shortly after the husband was imprisoned. She said workers have destroyed her garden of beans.

“We cannot eat trees. They do not want us to cultivate on our land. They steal the little food we grow on a small piece of land left. We used to grow our crops but now we can’t. Ever since my husband was arrested and imprisoned, I am struggling to feed my family,” she added.

Other affected residents added that they are holding grudges over the unending pain caused by the tree planting company.

“Our defenders were jailed and we were left helpless. People who had land continue to wander everywhere. They have nowhere to stay with their families. They have nothing to eat. You imagine what kind of life we are being pushed in,” residents said

But the Formosa farm manager, Mr. Asiimwe Nicholas denied the allegations. He added that the company has never evicted any residents which the villagers oppose.

Original Source: Farm Land Grab

Related Topics:human rights viloation land grabbing

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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Court Alert: Court Grants Bail to Jailed Defender and Wife.

Published

4 days ago

July 21, 2025

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team.

After a significant legal engagement, a magistrate court in Kiryandongo District has decided to release a community land rights defender and his wife on bail. This decision comes after they spent 40 days in prison.

Olupot James, a community land rights defender from Kikungulu village, Kibeeka Parish, Kapundo Sub-county, in Kiryandongo District, and his wife, Apio Sarah, were charged with malicious damage to property on June 5th, 2025, and were remanded to different prisons, including Dyang Prison.

The arrest of the defender and his wife has had a profound impact on their four children, leaving them in a state of grief and pain. They were left without parental care in a house surrounded by the sugar plantation.

According to the prosecution, the duo allegedly uprooted sugarcane plants belonging to Kiryandongo Sugar Limited and replaced them with maize on land neighboring the defender’s home. The multinational claims ownership of the land.

The Penal Code Act, Cap. Section 312 (1) of Uganda states that any person who willfully and unlawfully destroys or damages any property commits an offence and is liable on conviction to up to five years’ imprisonment.

Since 2017, Olupot and several other community land defenders have been in and out of prison, a testament to their unwavering resistance against illegal land evictions. Their resilience is a source of inspiration for many. Thousands of families claim they have lost their land to the multinational without following any law, without receiving any compensation, and without being offered an alternative settlement.

Through Witness Radio Legal Aid Chambers, the duo was granted a non-cash bail of two million Shillings, and their case has been fixed for hearing on July 28th, 2025.

The children, who have been enduring the absence of their parents, are now experiencing a sense of relief and joy as the family is reunited.

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

A land rights defender and his wife have been arrested, charged, and sent to prison.

Published

1 week ago

July 16, 2025

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team.

Kiryandongo District – A community land rights Defender at Nyamutende Cell in Kiryandongo District, and his wife have been sent to prison by a magistrate’s court in Kiryandongo District, Witness Radio confirms.

Olupot James and his wife, Apio Sarah, were charged with malicious damage to property after a multinational company, Kiryandongo Sugar Limited, accused them of destroying its crops. The area police later picked them up.

Since 2017, Kiryandongo Sugar Limited, a subsidiary of Rai Holdings Private Limited, has been among the three multinationals that have forcibly displaced over thirty-five thousand (35,000) people in Kiryandongo District without following due diligence or offering alternative settlement options.

Community land Rights defender Olupot James and his wife Apio Sarah are amongst a few remaining families that resisted the company’s violent eviction and repression. Their home is currently trapped in the middle of the sugar plantation after they lost their land, which was dug up to the house by the multinational. Despite their peaceful resistance, Olupot has been arrested, charged, and imprisoned more than six times, a clear indication of the injustice they are facing.

Since late May this year, the duo has been reporting to Kiryandongo police station on Criminal Case Number CRB No. 316/2025, until they were arrested and aligned before the court and imprisoned. Olupot was remanded to Dyang while Apio is in Kiryandongo prison.

The state alleges that Olupot and Apio committed the offence of malicious damage to property in Kikungulu village, Kiryandongo District, a region with a complex history of land-related conflicts.

The Witness Radio’s legal aid team is monitoring the case and will appear in court to apply for their bail.

DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Crackdown on EACOP protesters intensifies: 35 Activists arrested in just four months.

Published

3 months ago

April 30, 2025

witnessradio.org

By Witness Radio team.

Ugandan authorities’ ongoing crackdown on anti-EACOP protest marches is spreading rapidly like wildfires. The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) Project, a significant oil infrastructure development, has been a point of contention. Recently, Witness Radio warned that criminalizing the activities of individual activists and environmental defenders opposed to this project, which aims to transport crude oil from Hoima in Uganda to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania, will be regarded as the most disastrous and insensitive to communities’ concerns in Uganda’s history.

In just four months, a series of arrests targeting environmental activists opposing the mega oil project that transports crude oil from Hoima in Uganda to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania has resulted in a scene of crime. No one is allowed to express their concerns peacefully about it and push back on its adverse negative impacts.

While activists view the peaceful marches as a rightful and brave effort to protect the environment and the communities affected by the project, the authorities, including the Uganda police and Prosecutor’s office, regard these actions as attempts to sabotage development projects and resort to criminalization.

Activists and civil society organizations’ reports indicate that the project will likely damage the environment and has displaced thousands of local communities in Uganda and Tanzania.

Despite growing concerns and an intensified crackdown, project financiers and shareholders remain unwavering in supporting the EACOP project. This steadfast support underscores the urgency of the situation. However, environmental and human rights defenders stand firm, resolutely demanding the project’s halt, showing a glimmer of hope in this challenging situation.

Over last weekend, eleven (11) environmental activists were arrested, charged, and sent to prison. They were arrested and detained by police at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) premises while attempting to deliver a petition urging the bank to halt its financial support for the 1,444-kilometer heated pipeline project.

The arrest of the eleven activists comes less than a month after nine activists were detained on April 02 outside the Stanbic Bank headquarters while attempting to deliver a petition urging the bank to halt its funding for the project.

The eleven include Bob Barigye, Augustine Tukamashaba, Gilbert Ayebare, Umar Kasimbe, Joseph Ssengozi, Keith Namanya, Raymond Bituhanga, Mohammed Ssentongo, Paul Ssekate, Misach Saazi and Phionah Nalusiba.

KCB Bank Uganda is one of the banks that recently joined the race to fund the EACOP project. Last month, On March 26, 2025, EACOP Ltd., the company in charge of the construction and future operation of the EACOP project, announced that it had acquired additional financing provided by a syndicate of financial institutions, including regional banks such as KCB Bank.

Other banks in the syndicate include the Stanbic Bank Uganda, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).

The activists appeared before the Nakawa Chief Magistrate Court on April 25. They were charged with criminal trespass. According to section 302 of the Penal Code, a person convicted of criminal trespass is liable to a maximum sentence of one year in prison. This detail underscores the weight of the situation.

The activists are currently on remand at Luzira Maximum Prison and are expected to appear again before the court on May 08, 2025, for mention.