Police have stated that they are commited and prepared to evicting errant nomadic pastrolists (Balaalo) from several districts in northern Uganda in accordance with a presidential directive issued earlier this month.
The grace period for nomadic pastralists from western Uganda will expire on Saturday, November 25, as per President Museveni's ultimatum issued on November 3rd, 2023, in which he said that balaalo, particularly those with unfenced farms in Northern Uganda, must leave the region within three weeks.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, Chief Political Comissar of Police, Hadija Namutebi revealed that the law enforcement body is closely monitoring the situation of the illegal normadic pastralists and that it is on stand by to enforce the presidential order.
“This grace period of 3 weeks is expiring on November 25, 2023. We would like to warn all those who have not complied with the set guidelines to do so in the remaining days. After the expiry of the grace period, the police with other stakeholders will go ahead and implement the directives” she said.
The balaalo have been ordered to go back where they came from towards northern Uganda if they can not abide by the law and their exit point will be at Kiryandongo district.
Before issuing the order, President Museveni pondered how pastralists with cows in unfenced areas graze in private crop gardens, causing violent conflict among communities due to their recklessness.
This prompted him to travel to Amuru district where he met with leaders from the Acholi sub-region to discuss the issue.
” I directed the UPDF Division Commander, RPC and the Minister for Northern Uganda to ensure that anybody with cows in an unfenced area in the Acholi, Lango and West Nile sub-regions to leave immediately but in any case not later than 3 weeks from today,” he said.
He also ordered that anyone occupying government land (Aswa ranch, Lakang, land acquired for the Madvhani group, and so on) leave immediately, but no later than three weeks.
Despite the fact that some have followed the presidential order, it has been established that at least 217 normadic pastralists face eviction from the north. They have been advised to either sell their animals before leaving or load them onto trucks and return to where they came from.