Court faults govt for failing to pay Batwa during eviction
Some of the Batwa at their settlement in Kisoro Town near the district headquarters in April 2018. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Records show that between the 1930s and 1990s, government through its entities evicted the Batwa from three areas in Kabale and Kisoro districts which form the present day Echuya Central Forest Reserve, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
The Constitutional Court has ordered the High Court to determine appropriate compensation measures to the Batwa following illegal eviction from their land.
Records show that between the 1930s and 1990s, government through its entities evicted the Batwa from three areas in Kabale and Kisoro districts which form the present day Echuya Central Forest Reserve, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.
The court last Friday also ruled that the government and its agencies, National Forestry Authority (NFA) and Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) illegally evicted the Batwa from their ancestral land.
A panel of five justices held that the government was answerable for the failure to compensate the Batwa at eviction, which left them disadvantaged and marginalised.
In a unanimous ruling, the judges; Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, Elizabeth Musoke, Cheborion Barishaki, Muzamiru Kibeedi, and Irene Mulyagonja, ruled that due to the nonpayment of adequate compensation, the Batwa have been rendered landless and it has severely affected their livelihoods and destroyed their identity, dignity and self-worth.
Justice Musoke held in a lead judgment that the Batwa presented evidence that is more compelling because it charts their history and their connection to the respective lands and is better than Attorney General and Uganda Wildlife Authority – UWA and National Forestry Authority – NFA.
The three parties were respondents in the petition filed by a civil society organisation, United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda and 11 individuals.
These include Elias Habyarimana, Jovanis Nyiragasigwa, Christopher Kagundu, Night Isabela, Eric Tumuheirwe, Abel Kasumba, Abe Ruzuga, David Kakuru, Geoffrey Mahano, Alice Nyamihanda and Allen Musabyi.
They accused the government and its bodies of eviction, excluding and dispossessing the Batwa of their ancestral forest lands which compromised their physical and cultural integrity and survival as indigenous people.
The court observed that the Batwa were not consulted prior to the setting up of the protected areas on land they owned and that no compensation was paid to them.
“I reiterate that the Batwa are a group of individuals who have been marginalised on the basis of historical reasons following their eviction from the relevant lands without adequate compensation being paid to them. I find that no adequate compensation was paid to the Batwa despite the fact that some money was paid in about 1991,” Justice Musoke ruled.
Background
The Batwa are about 6,000 people, majority of whom live in Kanungu, Kisoro and Kabale districts. Court documents show that Echuya Forest, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park was customarily owned by the Batwa for many years before the declaration of British Protectorate on Uganda.
The petitioners told the Constitutional Court that since 1930s to the present day, successive governments have dispossessed them from their ancestral lands on which relevant protected areas were established.
