Rukiga protests loss of borderland to Rwanda

A resident stands besides an international boundary pillar at Mororo Trading Centre in Kamwezi Sub-county, Rukiga District on Monday. PHOTO BY ROBERT MUHEREZA

More than 100 residents of Kamwezi Sub-country in Rukiga District have petitioned government to compensate them for land they say has been lost to Rwanda during the remarking of the two countries’ border.

The border line resurvey kicked off in March 2014, with surveyors also erecting new boundary pillars.

But the petitioners, among them former privatisation State minister Manzi Tumubweine, claim the new border line has been moved inside Uganda by nearly 100 metres from the original one drawn by the colonial government. They say their farmlands and crop fields now fall in Rwanda.

The Kamwezi Sub-country residents also say the old border along River Kizinga from its confluence with River Kakitumba now falls on the Rwanda side.

The exercise, which is funded by the African Union, was halted in September 2015 due to logistical challenges, but was resumed in February this year.

Questioned
In their May 10 petition to Lands Housing and Urban Development minister, the residents asked: “What is the motive of the resurvey? How come Uganda land is encroached on all the time? Why were the people on the border not sensitised before this life-changing exercise was started? When people’s land becomes part of Rwanda territory, how will the owners of this land, which they have owned for about 100 years, access and utilise it? Will the people whose homes have now become part of Rwanda become Rwanda nationals? If so, under what arrangement?”

The residents added: “In case Ugandans whose land has become part of Rwanda territory do not want to become Rwandans, who will compensate them for the loss of their land and property? When will they be compensated since there was no prior valuation, when will the valuation of the destroyed property take place?”

Mr Tumubweine said they have not received any response from the ministry since they complained two months ago, but were told the matter was referred to the commissioner for mapping, who is yet to give them any feedback.

The resurvey is overseen by officials from both countries, with the Rwandan team headed by Mr Eugene Ngoga and their Ugandan counterpart led by Mr John Vianney Lutaaya.

It is intended to eliminate land conflicts among the communities living on the common border.

Mr Ngoga says the old boundary pillars were destroyed by people who thought the pillars had mercury and other valuable minerals.

The commissioner for mapping, Mr Wilson Ogalo, said the resurveying of the 200km-long Uganda-Rwanda border line is to redefine the common international boundary for easy administration and eliminating border conflicts.

He added: “In case people’s land falls on the either side of the country, there is no compensation whatsoever, but the affected persons will continue owning their land in line with the laws of the country in which the piece of land has fallen.”

He added: “The pillars being erected along the Uganda-Rwanda boundary are not to act as barriers to the community members on either side, but to facilitate smooth administration.”

Mr Ogalo also said the residents on the Uganda-Rwanda border were consulted and claims that they were not involved is false.

Indeed, the Kamwezi Sub-country chairman, Mr Tedson Niwagaba, agrees with Mr Ogalo, but questions why the border line moved by nearly 100 metres into Ugandan at Bufuka-Buziba swamp.

“I took the matter to the district security committee that discussed it and asked the Resident District Commissioner to investigate and file a report that shall be shared among the Rukiga District leaders and the ministry of lands to provide the best way forward,” Mr Niwagaba said.

The Rukiga Resident District Commissioner, Mr Emmy Ngabirano, said there is no cause for alarm because there is no manipulation.

He said whereas some land on the Ugandan side has been lost to Rwanda, about three villages of Rwanda, including Bweya, Ryeru and Rugarama, now fall in Uganda.

“I appeal for harmony as the authorities sort out the borderline issues. Remember, Ugandans from Kamwezi Sub-county have been having crop gardens in Rwanda even before the borderline resurvey process was started. Many Rwandans have wives and other relatives in Kamwezi Sub-county of Rukiga District and vice versa. Let the cordial relationship continue as the authorities sort out the borderline issues,” Mr Ngabirano says.

Use of GPS machines
The Kabale District staff surveyor, Mr Richard Apollo Rutaro, said the technocrats that are handling the borderline resurvey process are using GPS machines to locate the original boundary coordinates to avoid guessing.

“The duty of the surveyors is to locate original coordinates of the international boundary between Uganda and Rwanda using GPS machines and erect pillars. Issues of which property or land has gone to which country is the duty of national leaders,” Mr Rutaro said.