Mr Kateregga:
You said you are busy but according to Mr Dennis Obbo, Ugandans have one week to make their views known or miss out completely. Can you ask him whether the deadline has been extended?
It is now clear that the National Land Policy will not yield much. Why? YKM and Mr. Byaruhanga have already made their views known on sections of the National Land Policy, which is why the lands Ministry should clarify what Ugandans will be comenting on. What should we make of YKM’s comments? Can anyone defy him and recommend otherwise? The Ministry is yet to respond.
Is this the same land occupied by a coffee estate allegedly owned by Germans but has funny name-is it Kaweri?
This is another example of NRMO regime and its uncoordinated policy making. Why the selective nature of policy implementation?
WBK
Benjamin it weas precautionary and provisional. A comprehensive national land policy is in the offing.
[mailto:ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Benjamin Zaake Buganga Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 6:44 PM ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com eviction of 1,500 Mubende homes
Ahmed, Mengo has once again been vindicated. That funny land act was never meant to fight for the so-called peasants but rather was tactfully targeting the Kabaka’s 350 Square miles of land, the 9,000 square miles of Buganda’s forests/swamps, etcetera as well as the other square miles on which Buganda’s former Amasaza and Gombola Headquarters are located but of which the NRM-0 bigwigs have allocated themselves square miles of lands as so-called bonafide tenants. So if you have such a law with “ eyes” and you expect it to work, you are just deluding yourself my dear brother!
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 6:00 PM, Ahmed Kateregga wrote:
Michael Ssennyonjo, l am yet to cross check. But a similar thing happened at Kaweeri some time back, and the new land law has not affaressed those injustices in Mubende and Kiboga.
From: ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com [mailto:ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael Senyonjo Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 11:28 PM
{UAH}: Museveni okays eviction of 1,500 Mubende homes
eee, Katerega,
Can father of the Nation do this, or are we dealing with ‘bafuruki’ situation?
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:02:44 -0800 Re: {UAH}: Can you access the Observer?
Senynjo;
The Observer is accessible from here in US. Here’s the lead story…
Pojim
Museveni okays eviction of 1,500 Mubende homes Top Stories
Written by Michael Mubangizi Monday, 11 January 2010 05:14
As he pushed Parliament to pass the Land (Amendment) Bill, 2007, reportedly to protect tenants from evictions, it has emerged that President Museveni was at the same time sanctioning the eviction of 1,500 families from six villages in the central district of Mubende.
Parliament passed the controversial bill on November 15, 2009 and Museveni assented to it at a public ceremony at his country home in Rwakitura on January 6, despite loud protests from mainly Buganda Kingdom, which opposes the new law.
The Observer has learnt that around the same time as the bill was re-tabled after the September riots, the President also ordered the eviction of 1,489 bibanja holders in Kitambi Sub-county, Mubende District.
The Observer has seen a September 14, 2009 letter written by the President to the Minister of Water and Environment, Maria Mutagamba, asking her to relocate some of the villagers to “an alternative area.”
So serious is the matter that ministers Maria Mutagamba, Kirunda Kivejinja (Internal Affairs) and Asuman Kiyingi (State for Lands), all acting on Museveni’s directives, visited the area to order the people off the land.
The Observer has since established that the land in question comprises Kyamukasa, Kisiita, Kicucula, Mpologoma, Bukoba and Buseregenyu villages.
The area is occupied by bibanja holders with permanent residences and plantations. Most of these people settled in the area after 1992, according to Mubende RDC, Nsubuga Bewayo. The President says the land is a forest reserve, but The Observer has seen documents indicating that it also has confirmed gold deposits.
FOREST RESERVE OR GOLD MINE?
In his letter, the President said that only people who settled in the area by 1992, would be resettled in line with his “Executive Order on halting the eviction of encroachers” on forests. He ordered the arrest of local leaders and individuals who are involved in the fraudulent selling and allocation of land within this “Central Forest Reserve.”
But the President’s argument that the area is a forest reserve is being contested by some people, including his aides.
For example, Godfrey Kazibwe, the Presidential Advisor on Luwero Triangle, wrote to the National Forestry Authority in April 2009 telling them not to evict people. He dismissed as “doubtful” claims that the area is a forest reserve.
“I have received complaints from the residents of the above villages that your officers have gone ahead to destroy people’s crops alleging that they are in a forest gazetted area. This is a position that has been and is still being contested. You may possibly be aware of the position of the President about evictions,” Kazibwe wrote.
Commenting about the same land, on July 25, 2005, Justus Karuhanga, President Museveni’s former legal aide, wrote to the RDC Mubende, saying: “… There is suspicion that the land in question is not part of the forest reserve and the people involved are private individuals disguising themselves as NFA personnel whereas not, or are using some elements in NFA.”
In the memo, Karuhanga was calling for an end to “unlawful” evictions, destruction of people’s properties and investigations into the status of the land. Karuhanga and Kazibwe’s efforts energised residents in the area who then sued Namwasa New Forest Company Uganda Limited, the company that had been allocated the land, for harassing, and trying to evict them.
Namwasa New Forest Company Uganda Limited has been operating in Mubende, Kiboga and Bugiri districts since 2005, planting and harvesting trees. On August 24, 2009, High Court at Nakawa issued an order restraining it from evicting people. The directive was effective until October 8, 2009 when their application was to be heard. The injunction was later extended to March 18, 2010 by Justice Faith Mwondha.
However, even before the expiry of the injunction, the locals are accusing government officials of disobeying court orders. At a rally on December 11, 2009, ministers Kivejinja, Mutagamba, Kiyingi and RDC Bewayo visited the area and told the people to vacate the land by February 28, 2010.
Later on January 3, 2010, some residents, including LC leaders, were arrested in Kyamukasa as they held a meeting to plan the way forward. Bewayo told The Observer that the meetings are forbidden in the area. He added that the arrests also target people who continue to cultivate on the land.
Banning their meetings, the locals say, affects their capacity to mobilise. Two schools, according to Zawedde Lukwago & Co. Advocates, counsel for the complainants, have also been closed by the forestry company. Ssefra Parents School had 350 pupils while Mpologoma Parents School had 400.
GUARDED
The place is now reportedly guarded by Police and Askar security guards who arrest whoever attempts to cultivate in the area.
“We only allow them to harvest their produce,” Bewayo said. Locals say that the restrictions have brought about a food shortage in the area. According to the complainants’ lawyers, their clients lived peacefully on the land until 2005 when Namwasa New Forest Company Uganda Ltd “and other persons who claimed to have come to do gold mining” began grabbing people’s lands forcefully, destroying houses and plantations.
In their petition, the residents also accuse RDC Bewayo of threatening them and siding with people violating their rights. Locals also accuse him of frustrating their efforts to apply for leases on the land and instead opting to evict them.
But Bewayo said the residents don’t like him because he has not allowed them to “do something illegal.” He says only 18 people had been in the area by 1992.
“These haven’t been touched and we will only relocate them after finding alternative land, but the rest must go where they came from,” said Bewayo. He added that the rest of the claimants are migrants from Rwanda and Congo. Bewayo denied violating court orders.
He said the land is owned by the NFA. There are also conflicting reports about the reason for eviction – is it a forest reserve, a mining area, or perhaps bother? For instance, President Museveni’s letter to Mutagamba says the area is littered with gold. He said Kisita Mining Company was commissioned in 2001 to prospect for gold in the area, having been licensed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in 1994.
Under the new law, a person can only be evicted on account of failure to pay ground rent. It also requires tenants to be given a six months’ notice before being evicted. Richard Mulema Mukasa, a lawyer, says since people are still on the land and the eviction was not executed until the passing of the law, their eviction will have to take into account provisions of the new law. “Those can’t be evicted now, since the law seeks to protect them,” he said.
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From: Michael Senyonjo Sent: Mon, January 11, 2010 8:52:24 AM you access the Observer?
I think Taata is had enough and ordered them offline
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:51:20 +0000 the Observer?
i cannot either
On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 4:50 PM, Michael Senyonjo wrote:
Dear Readers,
I cannot access the Observer.ug from the UK. Can you? It had an interesting story of How Nyarwiino is evicting 15,000 villagers in Mubende. Is the observer switched off?
Michael Senyonjo
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