A section of local council leaders in Kyebe Sub-county and Mutukula Town Council, Kyotera District, are calling for an immediate halt to the implementation of the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP) in the area, citing gross violations of residents’ rights.
The leaders, alongside hundreds of residents occupying the former Sango-Bay sugar estates, are protesting how the investor is taking over the land. They argue that the investor is expanding beyond the original boundaries allocated for the project.
In 2022, the government repossessed 247 square miles of land located in Kabira, Kakuuto, Kasasa, Kasensero, and Mutukula sub-counties, previously used by Sango-Bay Estates Limited. The estate had collapsed following the expulsion of Asians in 1972.
President Yoweri Museveni subsequently directed that the land be handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture to expand the National Oil Palm Project to boost the country’s vegetable oil production. The land was allocated to Oul Palm Uganda Limited (OPUL), the main investor, along with a few selected secondary outgrowers.
However, David Mujaasi, the Mutukula Town Council Chairperson, has expressed concerns that the investors are exceeding the original boundaries of the sugar estates and are encroaching on private property with impunity.
He says that although President Museveni had directed that all bona fide occupants be compensated before the commencement of the project, the directive has been ignored, leading to blatant abuse of the residents. Some of them have lost valuable property to the investor’s workers, who are guarded by armed security personnel.
Mujaasi is calling for the project to be halted to allow for a fresh reassessment of the land boundaries and proper compensation for all affected occupants, some of whom, he says, had legally acquired lease certificates for the land.
“We had initially agreed that people who occupy the edges of the original sugar estates would not be evicted, but to our surprise, the investor is going way beyond the known boundaries. People’s livestock is being confiscated, and crops are being razed down by excavators,” he said.
Mujaasi added that they are seeking the direct intervention of the President to order a reassessment of the land repossession process, warning that the ongoing violations may provoke residents into retaliatory actions against the investor.
Francis Kizza, the Chairperson of Kyebe Sub-county, said they had previously raised the issue with the Office of the Prime Minister, but the matter has remained unresolved, and the investor has been uncooperative with local leadership.
Kizza noted that over 40 homesteads in Kyebe Sub-county are facing eviction without compensation, even though their land is not part of the original Sango-Bay sugar estates that were repossessed.“The first land survey report was not accurate, and it is important that the process be redone to harmonize the situation,” he said. Victor Ndahiro and Hosea Kamugisha, residents of Bukaala A in Kabira Sub-county, who are among those facing eviction, have threatened to mobilize for revenge against the investor, whom they accuse of suppressing their land rights.
The duo indicated that last year, they dragged the government to court, challenging their eviction from their legally acquired land, but they were surprised to find that the investors were advancing to take over their land before the court case was settled.
Apollo Mugume, the Kyotera Resident District Commissioner, confirmed that his office has received complaints of alleged violations and assured that he would follow up on the matter. He added that the State House Land Protection Unit had already shown interest in the case and would soon produce a report, which he hopes will help resolve the situation.
