The Hoima deputy Resident District Commissioner, Michael Kyakashari has been accused of aiding the eviction of over 20,000 people from three villages sitting on a piece of land measuring five square miles.
According to the victims, they were evicted from three villages of Lunga, Kapapi, and Lwenyana in Kigorobya County in Hoima district.
“It all started during the lockdown when a group of people guarded by armed men started erecting temporary structures on the land. We couldn’t do much because it was during the lockdown but when all this ended, the then RDC and DPC confronted them to find out why they had encroached on the land and they presented a land title,” Steven Tashobya, one of the victims told journalists in Kampala.
According to Tashobya, when confronted, the encroachers including one Laston Muhwezi and Wiliam Ndahura Gafayo said they owned the land and presented a title indicating they owned 2.5 acres.
“However, when the RDC and the DPC organized a district security committee meeting and insisted that they two didn’t have powers to evict people, they(RDC and DPC) were transferred and new ones brought in. To our surprise, the deputy RDC who was all along siding with the encroachers was not transferred.”
Eviction
According to the victims, this month, in an unprecedented manner, a group of people came and night and destroyed their houses, farms and burnt everything down and everyone ordered off the land on the three villages measuring five square miles.
“Over 20,000 people were evicted from their land, houses destroyed, 38 farms destroyed and cattle either stolen or loaded onto trucks and sold to Kampala in the presence of the deputy RDC who inspected everything that happened at night. Many of our families have nowhere to stay,” said 35 year old Enock Kakuru.
“It is appalling that I can be evicted from land where my elder brother who is now 65 years was born and is where my mum was buried.”
The group also insisted that over 15 of their fellow victims have since been arrested and charges of criminal trespass slapped against them on orders of the deputy RDC for protesting against the eviction.
“Many of us cant step foot in Hoima because there are already orders to have us arrested. In case any of us is seen in Hoima, police surrounds you whereas our colleagues who had gone to visit fellow victims who had been arrested were also arrested,” said Deus Mugume.
Connected to the oil pipeline?
Former presidential candidate and National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED leader, Joseph Kabuleta who escorted the victims told journalists that the eviction is related to the forthcoming construction of the oil pipeline.
“The trend is that wherever the pipeline is to pass, these scandals have happened. Wherever the pipeline passes, there is this chaos of evicting people before being compensated. These people of Hoima are directly affected because of the issue of oil pipeline,” Kabuleta said.
He however explained that whereas it is not government behind the eviction, some powerful individuals are using this opportunity to evict the locals from the land where the pipeline is going to pass so that at the time of compensation, the powerful individuals are the ones to benefit from the compensation.
“This clearly shows that the people evicting the three villages are not simple individuals. How can you have a title of 2.5acres and evict people from an area measuring five square miles? How can people be treated like animals because someone is targeting oil money?”
According to the victims, they are not against the oil pipeline and its development but there is need for compensation of the rightful owners of the land.
“We however know that some dealers are behind the eviction. It is not government fighting us but dealers who have paid the deputy RDC to evict us so they get compensated when the pipeline finally passes through our land,” Deus Mugume said.
Deputy RDC denies
Contacted for a comment, the Hoima deputy RDC, Michael Kyakashari denied the allegations as untrue.
“A person coming to say that I am assisting those evicting people from their land is a grave allegation. I am just less than a year in Hoima and I found some of those issues. There are six people with a title on land measuring 2500 acres. Last year they came saying there were tenants on the land who don’t want to vacate it. They presented a title to show ownership and agreements made with the tenants,” Kyakashari said.
“If a person shows you that proof, you have to see an amicable solution. The six people said they wanted the tenants vacate the land. They claimed that initially the land had only two or three people whom they were ready to negotiate with.”
The deputy RDC said the victims brought another group of people to settle on the land yet they were initially resident there.
“These used one person who was not member as their negotiator and their voice. In one of the district security committee resolutions we agreed that the people who had initially not been on land should vacate. Mugume and Tashobya started misleading the others that they could drive the owners of the land away.”
He confirmed that the six alleged owners recently forced all people of the land in contention but dismissed as untrue, reports that the affected people are about 20,000.
“When we did verification, the affected families were only six. But even if it is one family, I can’t accept any house to be demolished. If they begin claiming that I am helping other people to evict them, I can’t understand where they get authority to do that. If you go to the ground, you will see the allegations are not true.”
