minority groups struggle for land, representation

Historically, western Uganda was cloaked by forest cover, which was the home of the Batwa, an ancient traditional forest hunter-gatherer minority ethnic group.
However, in the 1990s, the Batwa became casualties of a battle to save forests when what they called home, the Mgahinga and Bwindi forests were protected as national parks. They have never recovered from the trauma of being forced out of these gazetted forest areas in as far as they attempt to adopt “modern life”.

Likewise, the Basongora and Banyabindi, minority communities in western Uganda, were also evicted from part of their ancestral lands in 1952 by the colonial government to create Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese District. They also both accuse the Bakonzo, a dormant tribe in Kasese for encroaching on and grabbing their land.
The Basongora own grazing land communally, without leases, hence their eviction on several occasions, including at the time of the gazetting of Queen Elizabeth National Park. They have had frequent conflicts with neighbouring groups, often cultivators. Scarcity of land has also forced some of them to become fishermen and abandon their pastoralist lifestyle.

The Banyabindi claim they are still suffering devastating effects of the Rwenzururu Rebellion that lasted from 1961 to 1982: loss of land through grabbing, creating Queen Elizabeth National Park and pushing them into internally displaced people’s camps at county and sub-county headquarters; destruction of property, houses burnt and animals taken; loss of lives where thousands of people were killed in cold blood; discrimination and marginalisation in social service delivery and jobs allocation.
The Banyabindi, therefore, conclude that all these have had adverse effect on their well-being causing them to live in abject poverty.

Ripple effects
According to the Banyabindi Cultural and Development Trust (BACDET) chairman, Augustine Amooti Byabasaija, the biggest problem facing the Banyabindi, is lack of land to grow crops such as coffee and bananas to earn an income. “So we have resorted to hiring land and we usually can’t hire more than an acre because of lack of money. This has kept us backwards. Some of us owned 200 acres which has been grabbed or some of which was turned into a national park.”
“There are more less no grazing lands in this area,” the Busongora kingdom minister for community rights, Daniel Imara Kashagama observes, adding: “Without grazing lands then we are no longer Basongora because we are pastoralists. Queen Elizabeth National Park was part of our grazing lands and it’s a restricted area today.”

“The Bakonzo have killed us, stolen our cows and even forcefully cultivated our land so that we relocate to other areas,” the Busongora kingdom’s minister of information, James Isimbwa chips in.
The Kampala-based non-governmental organisation, Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) acknowledges in its 2015 policy brief titled “The Cultural Rights of Ethnic Minorities in Uganda – A call for action” that ethnic minorities have frequently been evicted and displaced from their ancestral land, resulting in grave loss of their tangible and intangible heritage linked to physical spaces.

CCFU argues that where an ethnic minority has been displaced from its ancestral land (either because of conflict or to create a national park or forest reserve), access to land as a source of cultural identity is a critical issue. Land is associated with sites and other resources, including sacred places of worship, historical sites, sacred rivers and streams for ritual cleansing, and sources of medicinal herbs and honey.
According to Prince Kennedy Bwebale of Busongora Kingdom, the Bakonzo are planning to start with a cultural genocide against the Basongora. “They began by denying us grazing land yet we are identified with cattle. This they did by invading our land in order to deter us from grazing our livestock.”

Always on hold
Prince Bwebale adds that whenever the Basongora have presented their demands before the present and past governments they are told to wait because the Bakonzo have always been a security concern to the state. “The Bakonzo have been causing rebellions against the state. They are more organised because of being a bigger population so governments always give them special preference to appease them. All our demands are usually met after they have satisfied those of the Bakonzo.”
According to Isimbwa, all social services like piped water, feeder roads and electricity are lacking in areas concentrated by Basongora because these services are located along tribal lines. “Our children are denied government scholarships. Our educated children with university degrees never get jobs at the district. We have always supported the National Resistance Movement government so it should also reciprocate by addressing our demands.”

“Kasese District passed a resolution denying us land titles claiming this land is not ours, and we are migrants from Bunyoro Kingdom,” Patrick Byabasaija, a Musongora pastoralist in Nyakatonsi Sub-county, Kasese District claims.
“So, we have no rights to our ancestral lands, even when we inherited and bought it. If the Bakonzo fail to kill you or grab your land they take you to court. As we speak every Musongora is in court fighting for his or her land,” Byabasaija adds.

“Due to our small numbers, we feel threatened because they have squeezed us and taken over our grazing lands. Government should assist and protect us as a result of suffering for too long,” another Musongora pastoralist, Gladys Ikurato laments.
“We have suffered for long,” Febronia Amooti Nsungwa laments, adding; “We the elderly would wish to see the land government has promised to resettle us before we die.”
“We have been reduced to begging or hiring land to grow our food; we can’t raise school fees for our children and build modern houses with iron sheets. We need to plant cash crops otherwise we are now growing food for our subsistence only. Some of us have to dig other people’s gardens for between Shs1,000 per day,” Nsungwa says.

Demands
The Banyabindi, also have their own demands. They want government to allocate land to the Banyabindi who are badly off and landless close to 16,000 families; compensation and reparation for lost lives and property destroyed; affirmative action through representation for Banyabindi community; poverty eradication schemes tailored towards Banyabindi community; promotion of their cultural heritage by government recognising their cultural leadership.

According to the CCFU policy brief, several factors account for limited access to land. Prominent are restrictions by the Uganda Wildlife Authority – UWA (sometimes met with violence, sometimes because permits are not easy to obtain, depending on circumstances, distance, among others). Secondly, some cultural sites are on private property and once sold the new owners rarely respect their cultural value.
Other reasons include destruction by religious institutions (especially shrines) and population pressure (often as result of displacement). In addition, cultural sites were originally protected by the elders but youth may know less and less about the value of these sites and therefore the need to protect them.

There is, however, an increasing and welcome acceptance by UWA and the National Forestry Authority (NFA) that access by ethnic minority groups for cultural sites, medicinal plants, raw materials for craft making situated within protected areas (forests and national parks) should be allowed.
“If this is at times permitted,” CCFU suggests, “UWA and NFA official regulations and related government policies should however be in place not only to ‘guarantee’ access and fully protect such culturally significant sites, but also to provide authority to the concerned communities to sustainably co-manage these resources, including tourism development. This could be funded through the revenue sharing scheme, ensuring that this resource is equitably administered and that finance reaches the relevant sub-counties. Where needed, UWA and NFA could build the local communities’ knowledge on the importance of preservation of the eco-system.”

“Where raw materials for cultural items are under threat of extinction, nurseries could be established. In protected forests, NFA should allow the continuation of cultural and agricultural activities, as the community has always done; local personnel could be deployed to protect them from encroachers who farm in the interior and destroy the large trees; and from charcoal burners. NFA could also provide seeds or seedlings to regenerate bio-diversity and medicinal plants,” CCFU adds.

Representation
At district level, their representation is minimal (Bundibugyo, Abim and Ntoroko districts), while nationally there is no representation dedicated to ethnic minority groups. As a result, laws are flouted, there is insufficient security, and decisions affecting ethnic minorities are taken without their consultation.
The recognition of administrative boundaries that provide ethnic minorities with a measure of recognition and political representation was however appreciated where this had taken place. The Ik, for instance, acknowledge that when they were granted their own sub-county, Kamion, Kaabong District in July 2010, (this) contributed to a better recognition of their cultural identity.

Even at local administrative level, however, adequate representation is often lacking. In Ikland, for instance, the sub-county chief of Kamion and most of the sub-county officials are not Ik. Similarly, the Benet occupy ‘Benet sub-county,’ and while there is one Benet sub-county chairperson, there is no sub-county where the Benet are the majority.
“We are backward because we lack political representation right from the Local Council III level up to Parliament to articulate and advocate for our issues and rights. The advantage that the Bakonjo have over us is that they large in numbers and they are fighting us. They don’t want us to take up political leadership at any level in Kasese District,” the Queen of Busongora Kingdom, Stella Akiiki Bwebale observes.

According to Patrick Byabasaija, the lack of his community’s political representation results from the deliberate district demarcation by the political leadership. “The political leadership would prefer to keep us as a minority. So they don’t want us to have our own district and independence. Government seems to go with the power of the majority voters.”
According to the BACDET Secretary General, Joseph Basaliza, the Banyabindi are not represented in the current 31 sub-counties in Kasese District and at the District Council. “We are not politically represented in the entire district. Even then the existing sub-counties were poorly zoned or planned. When it comes to voting the majority community wins the day. Even when we (the Banyabindi) stand for political office we are segregated against because of our identity.”

Solutions
Basaliza suggests that the appointing authority should consider appointing minorities for political offices. There should separate administrative units like parishes, sub-counties, constituencies and districts to specifically cater for minorities.
Reserved seats for ethnic minorities in Parliament are proposed by representatives of ethnic minorities to counter this under-representation.

Beyond this, a proportional electoral system would ensure the presence of ethnic minorities in decision-making, as would a bi-cameral system (with a senate representing different ethnic groups). CCFU suggests that information on these options needs to be availed and widely discussed.
CCFU adds that one must also ensure better representation at district and other local levels by providing opportunities to hear minority voices and employing their educated representatives, such as sub-county chiefs and technical personnel. Where issues directly concern minority groups, government needs to consult before making any decision.

The Bakonzo have harboured the idea of creating their Yiira Republic since the 1950s, when they started the Rwenzururu movement. While meeting a delegation of minority tribes in Kasese at State House Entebbe on March 10, 2016, President Yoweri Museveni assured the delegation that the Bakonzo republic was not possible. He reminded them that the Ugandan Constitution guarantees all Ugandans to enjoy their rights and outlaws sectarian marginalisation.
“Your complaints, therefore, would be discussed by all stakeholders in the area to find a just solution. It is not correct for you to suspect all the Bakonzo of ill intentions,” Museveni said.
“You should, therefore, not distrust all the Bakonzo. You should instead work to expose the promoters of tribal chauvinism,” Museveni added.

Marginalisation of minorities around the world

According to Minority Rights Group International (MRG), marginalized groups around the world have been adversely affected by exploitation of the resources found on, or under, their ancestral lands.
In his Foreword message in the “State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012” directory published by MRG, the former chair of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Vital Bambanze, observes: “One of the overriding threats facing minorities and indigenous peoples in every region of the world is the risk of being driven from their land and natural resources, which are vital for their livelihoods, their culture and often their identity as a people.”

According to the MRG 2008 World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, unlike neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi does recognise the distinct ethnicity of the Batwa. There are estimated to be between 30,000 and 40,000 living in the country. The 2005 Constitution set aside three seats in the National Assembly and three seats in the Senate for Twa.
“Nonetheless this group are still mostly landless and are among the poorest people in what is a very poor country. In testimonies gathered by MRG in Burundi in 2007, Batwa complained of many difficulties relating to land-rights, either through lack of title, discriminatory practises relating to allocation on the part of the authorities, or failure to recognise historic rights to land…,” the 2008 MRG directory adds.

According to the State of the World’s Minorities 2007 directory, ethnic or sectarian tensions are evident in many parts of our globe. In places, they have boiled over into bitter violence. The Middle East situation continues to deteriorate – with some minority communities fearing for their very survival. In Africa, the crisis in Darfur is deepening, as government-sponsored militia continue to carry out massive human rights abuses against traditional farming communities. In Europe, the spotlight has fallen on Muslim minorities – with rows flaring over the Danish cartoons and the wearing of the veil and burqa.