Betty Amongi, the minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, has said the process of evicting people from Rwamutonga in Hoima district to pave way for the construction of an oil-waste treatment plant was done illegally.
She said the people of Rwamutonga are bonafide occupants of land situated at Plot 34, Block 5 known as land at Kakoora, Rwamutonga, Katanga, Buhanguzi and Bugambe – Hoima, measuring approximately 382.797 hectares. She said her findings reveal they were wrongfully evicted from the land.
Using documentary evidence such as graduated tax receipts and sale agreements, it was established that some of the community members settled on the land as early as 1982.
“They are protected by the constitution and the Land Act as lawful and bonafide occupants,” Amongi told a meeting in Hoima recently.
Some 1,051 people were displaced when their houses, gardens and schools were set on fire, forcing them to seek refuge in an IDP camp in a nearby village.
The land is being claimed by Joshua Tibagwa, forcing the evicted persons to go to court seeking reinstatement. The land was to be sold off to an American company to construct an oil waste treatment plant in Hoima district where production of oil is set to start soon. The occupants have waited over two years to receive communication from government on their plight.
Amongi was meeting the displaced people as part of her fact-finding mission to establish how the people of Rwamutonga were evicted from what they call their land.
The plight of the people of Rwamutonga was first brought to light by Global Rights Alert, a civil society organization, when the people woke up to violent evictions in August 2014. With partners, GRA has supported the evicted persons to access justice by going to court and securing the attention of government to intervene.
Amongi was led into a grass-thatched school structure sitting amidst dilapidated mud-and-wattle houses. She was visibly distraught by this sight.
Lucy Onyer told the minister that the women had been left to beg for food for their families. Some 20 people have died in the past two years that the people have been living in the camp. The camp lacks proper sanitation facilities.
When she spoke, Amongi said her research revealed that the people were wrongfully evicted.
“I have seen proof that some of you are bonafide occupants of this land. Once I verify this information, I will make my orders and recommend that the people who were legally on land can go back and those who are interested can apply for leasehold land titles from the district land board,” Amongi told the displaced persons.
FACT FINDING
Her visit to the IDP camp was part of a fact finding mission to Hoima district to mediate in the Rwamutonga land eviction case. At the Hoima district local government headquarters, Amongi met all the parties to the controversial land dispute.
The parties present were Joshua Tibagwa and his family, who triggered the eviction two years ago, Robert Bansigaraho, a party to the land dispute and the representatives of the affected persons. Also in attendance were top leaders of Hoima district local government, including the LC V chairperson, the CAO, the RDC and area MP Tophace Kaahwa.
Each claimant of the disputed land narrated the history and customary claim to the land. After hearing all sides, Amongi concluded that Bansigaraho had wrongfully acquired a title for 258 acres instead of 40 acres. She said the registrar of titles was going to evoke his powers under section 91 of the Land Act to remedy this irregularity.
She added that Joshua Tibagwa, having originated from another sub-county other than Bugambe, where Rwamutonga is located, could not have had customary ownership of land in the area.
She added that Tibagwa having been given this land by a muluka (parish) chief in 1972, meant that the said land was public land hence he is entitled to a leasehold land title, as opposed to the free-hold land title, which he processed in 2012.
“To this end, therefore, on top of the irregularities that were involved in acquiring the above land title, the title was equally defective and has to be reviewed by the registrar of lands, first to change it to leasehold, but also open boundaries to ascertain the actual size of Tibagwa’s land,” Amongi said.
She said the affected community members were not covered under the eviction order that Tibagwa used to evict them in August 2014. The court ordered for the eviction of Bansigaraho’s agents, relatives and servants only.
“However, it is probable that some of the affected persons were actually trespassers on the land, hence the need to verify the claims of these community members,” Amongi said.
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