Last week, a group of elders from Tooro sub-region interfaced with the commission of inquiry into land fraud, which recently started its work.
The elders complained before the commission led by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, that some unscrupulous people including soldiers and senior people in government are plotting to take part of their land.
Ebert Byenkya, the lead counsel of the commission, guided the proceeding. Zahara Abigaba attended the session and below is an edited transcript of what transpired.
Introductions
Byenkya: Mr Ruhunda, please state your name and the members of your delegation?
Alex Ruhunda [MP for Fort Portal municipality]: Thank you counsel and the honorable commissioners.
I am happy that today I am leading a team of Tooro citizens under the umbrella of the Isaazi Ly’abantu Bakuru Ba Tooro [literally meaning gathering of elders from Tooro]. They formed this independent body of all other entities preserving the future of Tooro and some of us the political leaders who hail from Tooro.
Byenkya: I suppose you [Ruhunda] will speak for them?
Ruhunda: On December 22 and 23 we had the Tooro people’s conference – it is an annual event. So, we felt the need to bridge the gap between the political leaders and other players in Tooro.
One of the salient issues was to do with land and we were so delighted about the coming up of the commission of inquiry into the matters of land. We wrote a petition to the commission because we knew it will listen to our issues and then find solutions to them.
Byenkya: Let us discuss the petition starting with the first complaint of forceful occupancy and use of privately owned land – you suggest that these people get support from the government [accompanied] by military men?
Ruhunda: Yes, armed men.
Byenkya: When you say armed men, can you please be specific?
Ruhunda: I witnessed the use of the royal guards to evict the local people.Â
Byenkya: Are there witnesses to testify to this?
Ruhunda: Yes, I am one of them especially with royal guards because this happened in my constituency.
Byenkya: Let’s look at the case of Block 86 plots 2 LRV 3106 at Mpara, Kyaka in Kyegegwa talking about the land owned by former prime minister of Tooro kingdom Steven Irumba. So, are you suggesting that the prime minister is the one involved in evicting people?
Ruhunda: No, it is the other way round – he owns the land and he has got the land title and the government got refugees who were chased from Tanzania and then they have settled them on part of his land in Kyaka and also in the process they had encroached on 200 acres of his farm.
Byenkya: Is this idea of military or armed men a pervasive thing or it is one-off thing?
Ruhunda: They are unknown because their identity is not disclosed. We started experiencing this in the Katonga game reserve where we would have gun-wielding cattle keepers who move unabated and the local security did not have the guts to confront them and now they are battling with UWA in the game reserve.
Byenkya: What ethnic group are they?
Ruhunda: We have the Hutus of the Rwandese origin, the Bakiga and the Bahima; so, it is a combination.
So, the commission needs to look into this issue because if the government doesn’t care, it will wake up one day when it has lost land to unknown people for example in Kyaka there are allegations that big shots in the government have also secured big chunks of land there.
Byenkya: On the matter of bona fide tenants, does Tooro have bona fide tenants and landlords?
Ruhunda: Yes.
Byenkya: Can you explain that a bit?
Ruhunda: Through the colonial system, land was divided between different players. The kingdom was given the mailo land; churches were also given a lot of land. So, half of the population is bona fide occupants like 85 percent.
Byenkya: So, it is really an issue now between the rights of occupants and the rights of the mailo owners.
Businge [an elder]: Sir, it is more than that. It is the lawlessness where an individual thinks that they have the audacity, [and] the power to displace fellow citizens. We don’t know whether ordinary citizens, without the backing of court, can have the power to displace these voiceless people.
Byenkya: In case of Bunyoro, there is a problem of absentee Buganda landlords- is it the same in Tooro?
Rubongoya [elder]: The difference is what created the situation. Somebody owns the title but he is not the occupant of the land. The government created two legal ownerships.
Byenkya: So, you think the lack of land fund is the major problem?
Rubongoya: We do not know if the land fund exists; and if it exists, we want to know how it works.
Ruhunda: Additionally this has [been] attributed heavily [to] the incomes of households. You know when you keep living as a tenant, even your mind to develop is deterred.Â
Byenkya: Back to the petition, it states that the government Rubona stock farm in Kabarole district has been encroached on by local people. Please throw more light on this…
Rubongoya: Actually our concern is mainly restocking that farm; there were cows and overnight the cows were not there and the whole resource is lying idle and yet this is meant to speak volumes on the development of the area.
Ruhunda: As we speak now, we witnessed the grabbing of Buhinga primary school land done by government officials; they connived, sold off land which occupies teachers’ quarters and when we woke up, we found someone claiming ownership of the land.
We also learnt about the ploy to steal the land of Rubona stock farm and the first thing was not to make it visible in terms of activity where its relationship with community is no longer there; the question was why kill such big resources that was really responsible for animal husbandry in the region.
Rubongoya: My lord, our intention is not to pinpoint cases but, rather, to inform policy. There are leaders who think that they are heaven and earth. Someone goes to head a school, the next thing, he is selling the playground.
Our population is growing, we are here to stay and so we would like the government to pronounce itself [on these issues]. There are things which must be here long after we are gone.
Byenkya: Still you talked about crater lakes – it seems you have a problem with the leasing of 20 crater lakes by Kabalore district because under the Constitution you can’t lease a lake to anybody.Â
Rubongoya: My lord, it is the some thing we are talking about; our leaders who nearly disgraced themselves. Here is the memorandum of understanding leasing those lakes, in total we have about 58 but the MOU talks about 48.
Byenkya: So, your understanding is that they wanted to lease the lake, not the land around the lake?
Businge: The lakes and other activities like tourism – the wording in the document is really worrying.
Byenkya: So, what are they calling the document? Is it license or concession?
Rubongoya: Concession.
Byenkya: Because under the law you can give interest in water bodies but my confusion was when you were talking about lease.
Rubongoya: The communities have been disenfranchised and the documents show that these communities will be displaced probably not in the far distant future; the communities will be pervaded by homelessness and landlessness.
Byenkya: What is the name of the party that Kabalore district is dealing with?
Ruhunda: It is called the Ferdsult Engineering Services Limited. I am sure the commission will take closer look into that matter.
My lord, I even raised this matter before the president in the 9th parliament and I asked that where does local government get the powers to sell, lease or even hire natural resources because the environment laws are very clear.
For instance, 100 metres towards the crater lake is a no-go zone, getting access to the water is criminal; so, the locals who have been fetching water no longer have access.
The crater lakes are now being guarded by a private security company whose guards have been ordered to shoot whoever gets close to the crater lakes. As we speak now there are uprisings – you see when you block people for some time, they will react.
Some of the leaders who are involved cannot step in such areas for fear of being lynched. Initially people did not understand ;they thought that the development came to help them to restock the fish in crater lakes.
The information we have is that this company is already in bad books. They were managing the collection of tariffs of Rural Electrification Program. Actually they owe the government billions of shillings and their contract was terminated.
Byenkya: I’m sure the commission will look into this….In your petition, you also talked about the land fund – how you think it might be a problem and the example you gave was that some money has been paid to the Tooro kingdom in compensation [from the] land fund. If it has been compensated, who is holding the land now and why has it not been distributed? Please throw more light on this…
Ruhunda: Thank you, my lord; as we said earlier, the intention of the land was meant to cure a problem. The queen mother had been compensated by Shs 4.5 billion but even up to now, irrespective of the fact that the matter is public knowledge, we have not seen even a copy of the receipt confirming this payment.
From the information we have gathered, the land is around Kibito and part of Bunyagabu but up to now they have not been informed; so, we are asking ourselves what was this whole transaction about?
They are using public money to compensate the queen mother because of the communities that occupy the land. Why make this a matter of secrecy? Is this how the land fund is being managed? So, this gross abuse of public offices is something that is unacceptable, the commission should look deep into the matter and investigate because the land fund is a major issue for this country.
Byenkya: Tell us your view about the land fund. If the land fund was properly funded, do you think it will solve the problem?
Ruhunda: I don’t even know if it will ever be funded in the first place, I normally get disappointed when the government pronounces itself on very fantastic ideas and they don’t find money for them including this commission. They delayed to give it money to start. Why should we beg government to establish the fund? This is what defeats some of us.
Bamugemereire: You are a parliamentarian. Tell us…
Ruhunda: Hahahahahah my lord…I was getting to that point that we get frustrated. When we legislate and put laws in place, we expect the laws to be respected.
For example, parliament pronounced itself to finance the Uganda Development Corporation with Shs 500 billion but nothing has happened. Even now we are just grappling and begging to find some little money for UDC. Why did we even pass that law in the first place?
Bamugemereire: Yes, why did you pass the law?
Ruhunda: My lord, I think this is a cultural issue we have to deal with. I know you will come up with a report to provide money for the land fund but this money will not be there. Apart from the land fund, what is it that we can change to solve this problem?
Bamugemereire: Before you even come to the land fund, ideally there should be regulations. You see when you operationalize a law, it requires regulations, then it mandates the minister; it helps creates activity and processes around the system.
Ruhunda: Yes my lord, we questioned about the regulations because when we make the law, the ministry which hosts that obligation is supposed to come up with regulations and sometimes we make the laws without policies; so, we have a lot of gaps.
Bamugemereire: Could the gaps be deliberate?
Ruhunda: My lord, I cannot really commit myself on that. Maybe it is management style that needs to improve and that is an issue for us to reflect on but I think we must wake up to the reality.
Otherwise, we are doing a disservice to this country, spending a lot of money and not really coming up with practical solutions that should lift people up. Let us push for priorities that can cause transformation.
We have not made enough land reforms that can really make land a huge economic asset for the country. Land is just being abused and until government redirects and comes up with real reforms that are not populist-oriented, we cannot get somewhere. We cannot drive this country with all this populism and disrespect of the law and you think that we can get somewhere.
azabigaba@gmail.com.