10,000 families face eviction  over govt’s oil palm project 

At least 10,000 families in nine villages in Kakuto Sub-county, Kyotera District, have two weeks to look for alternative land for settlement after government rekindled its plan to repossess Sango Bay Estates and set up oil palm plantations.

According to Mr Ignatius Tumwesiga, a liaison consultant on Sango Bay Estates, the planned eviction aims at reclaiming land measuring 146,000 acres for extensive agriculture purposes, which will create about 20,000 jobs for youth, especially from Kyotera and Rakai districts.

 “Government will evict those who are supposed to be evicted (encroachers)but the bonafide occupants, who are about 300 , will be resettled. Our plan is to create oil palm plantations that will create employment and bring development to the area,” he said during an interview at the weekend.

Commercial oil palm growing in Uganda started on Kalangala Island in 2006. It was early this year extended to Buvuma Island where government plans to plant 75,000 hectares of oil palm trees by 2025.

Cabinet directive
Mr Tumwesiga said Cabinet has already directed repossession of Sango Bay Estates after realising that the land was idle and more squatters were massively encroaching on it.

Mr George Bagire, a councillor representing Mayanja Sub-county at Kyotera District council, said the people who the government calls squatters have been settling on the land since the 1990s and have nowhere to go .

“We are wondering how government can evict its own citizens when it is hosting refugees from other countries such as Afghanistan and South Sudan,” he said. He said they were considering a formal petition to President Museveni and the minister of Lands. 

“We are perturbed by the statements made by Resident District Commissioner,  Hajj Moses Ddumba, who said we should not ask anything but instead the affected households should look for where to go; this  is absurd. Government has to plan for its people but not just chasing them away,” he said.

 The affected residents, mostly herders, are in the villages of Kanamiti, Matengeeto, Mutukula, Lukulavu, Lukoma, and Kabale, all in Kakuuto Sub-county. Others are in the villages of Kasasa and Kyebe.

  Mr Moses Byakatonda, one of the affected residents, said he formally applied for the title of the land and obtained the documents of ownership in 2010 through Rakai District land board, but he is wondering why he is being ordered to vacate.

 “It’s government workers that gave us land titles and the process took a lot of money and time, if the process was fraudulent, let those officers be arrested,” he said
 The first attempt by government to take over the land was in 2012, but residents put up a spirited fight and resisted eviction.

Initially, the Sango Bay land was housing a sugar estate owned by the Sharad Patel family. It also has four central forest reserves, an air strip and internationally recognised wetland (Ramsar site). A big chunk of the land is currently being used by herders as grazing ground.

Hajj Ddumba said they have embarked on sensitising affected residents through holding meetings.
“The plan to reclaim Sango Bay Estate land will start next week [this week] with opening of boundaries, after that, there will be a complaints desk to handle all complaints of the evicted residents,” he said.

About sango bay 
The land consists of four central forest reserves - Malabigambo, Kaiso, Tero and Namalala, which cover 60 square miles; a wetland, Sango Bay –Musambwa Island-Kagera wetland system  (Ramsar site) and an airstrip. Mr Ignatius Tumwesiga, a liaison consultant on Sango Bay Estates, says both the ramsar site and forest reserves will be preserved and agricultural activities will only take place on the grassland.

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