By Leilah Bbaale
Leaders in Bunyoro are concerned about the escalating cases of brutal land evictions in the area.
According to the leaders, despite various strategies put in place to avert the vice, it has increasingly persisted.
Currently several families are threatened with evictions while others have been brutally evicted from their ancestral land.
The latest eviction being in March this year where more than 500 families in Kapapi and Kiganja sub counties were brutally evicted from their ancestral land. The affected people mainly cultivators and pastoralists were forcefully evicted by the police and private security guards who torched their homes on. More than 50 homes were set ablaze and an unspecified number of animals including cows and goats looted.
The residents were feuding with Moses Asiimwe, a tycoon in Hoima city over approximately 5 square miles of land covering the villages of Waaki North, Kapapi Central, Waaki South, Runga, and Kiryatete villages in Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties.
The leaders say Bunyoro needs a special affirmative action to tackle the rampant land evictions in the region.
Pius Wakabi, the Bugahya county member of parliament attributes the trend to the oil discovery and the ongoing oil activities in the region that has created demand for land for various investments. He says as a result of the oil discovery, several speculators and land grabbers have invaded the region fraudulently acquiring titles on people’s land.
He says, families in the region have suffered enough calling on the government to avail residents in Bunyoro with free land titles to prevent the fraudulent land grabbers.
Ali Tinkamanyire, the Buseruka sub county LCIII Chairperson says the situation is more alarming in his sub county. He says currently several families are on tension as they are being threatened with evictions on land that they have settled on for decades.
Harriet Businge, the Hoima woman Member of Parliament fears that if no immediate intervention is taken by the government, most families in Bunyoro will be rendered landless. She wants government to accord Bunyoro a special consideration.
According to Businge, most of the land grabbers are highly connected to top government officials who aid their plans of land grabbing.
Patrick Musinguzi, a resident of Kigorobya sub county says before the oil discovery, no land evictions where being witnessed in the Bunyoro sub region tasking the government to take the responsibility of protecting peoples land in the region.
Peter Banura, the Buliisa LCV Chairperson says the current trend of evictions are appalling with most families spending sleepless nights.
In Hoima currently, more than 2,000 families in Hoima district are on the verge of being evicted from their ancestral land.
The affected families are residents of Rwobunyonyi, Kirindasojo, and Kihohoro villages in Buraru sub-county.
They are feuding with Fred Mugamba, a tycoon in Hoima city over land measuring 810 hectares.
The families say they have occupied the contested land since the 1940s and wonder how Mugamba who is not even a resident of the area, is claiming the land. They accuse Mugamba of slashing their crops and torching their houses.
While in Bunyoro for the commissioning of oil roads in January last year, President Yoweri Museveni tasked Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja to intervene in the escalating land grabbing issues in the region and immediately give him a report so that the land grabbers are dealt with once and for all.
