By Witness Radio team
Kiryandongo – Uganda. The escalating global demand for land is drawing the focus of multinational companies and investors towards Africa, often lauded for its abundant fertile land. Uganda is one of those African countries where Multinationals have shown interest. Over recent years, Kiryandongo district in mid-western Uganda has become one of the destinations for multinational companies seeking to engage in large-scale agriculture.
The repercussions of land acquisitions by multinational over the past six years in Kiryandongo district have been extensive, causing profound harm to community members. This includes tragic fatalities, widespread violent evictions, arbitrary arrests and criminalization of local farmers’ activities, and significant environmental degradation, resulting in homelessness for numerous individuals.
Witness Radio’s research estimates that nearly 40,000 individuals have been displaced from their land to give way to land based investments in the Kiryandongo district. The recent incident, amid numerous cases of violent evictions in the area, involved reckless shootings that have claims claimed innocent lives and left many casualties.
The latest shooting involved a son of a community land rights defender (Kaliisa Joseph) who was shot dead and many injured in a retaliatory attack by agents and workers of Somdiam Company Limited. Kaliisa is a renowned community defender in Kiryandongo district. He mobilizes his community of over 3000 people to resist a land grab orchestrated by a company owned by Indian nationals.
The frequent occurrence of such incidents, which are diligently monitored and documented by Witness Radio, an advocate for land and environmental rights in Uganda, along with partners like Oxfam, Kiryandongo district local government and others have prompted a convening to deliberate on the situation in Kiryandongo and in Uganda in general.
The dialogue to be held on Thursday 21st at the Kiryandongo district headquarters is intended to reflect on the plight of land and environmental rights defenders, local and indigenous communities and the role of responsible land-based investments in protecting people and the planet.
According to Witness Radio experts, the dialogue is targeting technical officers, policy implementers, politicians, media, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and development partners that support land and environment rights as well as the Land Based Investments (LBIs) Companies in the Kiryandongo district.
“The dialogue is expected to avail empirical information and yield practical recommendations on how to engage and build synergies that will ensure the realization of the priority actions of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights Uganda (NAPBHR), 2021”. Said Kiwanuka Christopher, Head of Programs at Witness Radio Uganda.
The dialogue will start at 9:00am to 2 pm East Africa Time.
