Why settlers have refused to vacate OPM land in Bulambuli

On Monday morning, Ms Rose Muzaki, 50, looked on helplessly as she watched her grass thatched hut being torched by unidentified people in Kaata Village in Bunambutye Sub-county, Bulambuli District.

Ms Muzaki is one of about 150 families who are settling on part of the 2,800 acres of land, which was acquired by the Office of Prime Minister (OPM) to relocate and resettle people from different landslide prone-districts in Bugisu Sub-region.

This publication learnt that four days ago, before the burning of some of the grass thatched huts belonging to some of the settlers, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr Stanley Bayole, had ordered them to vacate within a week.

On that fateful day, four other huts, spread from one another, were set ablaze in what the residents say is part of forceful eviction.

Mr Stephen Musede, the chairperson of the affected residents, told Daily Monitor in an interview that they have been living on the land since 2004 before even the government bought it.

“We have nowhere to go. We have families. Instead of being forcefully evicted, we should be resettled like our colleagues,” Mr Musede said.

The affected settlers, whom the district leaders, refer to as illegal occupants, stay in the villages of Kaata and Mabaale.

The villages sit on part of the land, which the government allocated to the landslide victims at Bunambutye Resettlement Camp for farming.

The government started the resettlement of landslide victims in Bulambuli in 2019 from mostly the districts of Bududa, Sironko, Bulambuli, Manafwa and Namisindwa.

Mr Micheal Womuna, the chairperson of Kaata Village and one of the affected settlers, said when the government started resettling their colleagues in 2019, they welcomed them as relatives, unfortunately, he says, they have turned against them.

“We have pleaded with the district leaders to halt the planned eviction of our people since we are all loyal NRM cadres who are registered voters in this area in vain,” he said.

Close to 300 families of more than 5,000 people have so far been resettled. Each resettled family gets a house sitting on one acre and two acres for farming.

Mr Womuna, however, said they were the first people to resettle themselves on the land after President Museveni directed them to move away from landslide prone areas.

“President Museveni, while addressing a rally at Masaba Secondary School, directed all affected persons living in the landslide prone areas to relocate, which we did,” he said.

Most of the settlers facing the eviction are from the districts of Sironko and Bulambuli, who formerly lived near Mt Elgon National Park.

Mr Ibrahim Mazaki, the NRM chairperson for Bumasari Parish and one of the affected, said the then prime minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, during his visit to Bunambutye pledged that the government would resettle them.

“Dr Rugunda listened to our plight and pledged to resettle us but this is being disputed by the district leaders. We have written letters but the only thing we get is threats,” he said.

Ms Irene Kayegi, a mother of five, said they are facing segregation and that their children are not being admitted to Bunambutye Primary School, which the government constructed for the resettled landslide victims.

“Getting medication at Bunambutye Health Centre III is also a challenge. Government should intervene and rescue us from this barbaric mistreatment,” she said. Ms Kayegi said they also need security protection. alleging that their resettled neighbors keep burning their houses and destroying their crops as a way of forcing them to vacate.

However, Mr Moses Gizaza, one of the resettled landslide victims, dismissed the allegations, saying the settlers reportedly set  their own houses on fire to attract sympathy.

“It’s true we want the land for farming but we have never burnt their houses. They burn them for public attention,” he claimed.

The RDC, Mr Bayole, said the group must vacate the land or else they will use force.

“We gave them the ultimatum of one week when we had a meeting with them and other district leaders. The government bought that land for the gazetted resettlers,” he said.

Mr Bayole said they gave the group enough time to harvest their crops and leave but they are surprised that they have continued to claim ownership of the land.

“They claim former Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda promised them land but that has not been  realised, therefore, the land there is for gazetted settlers. We gave them enough time to plant and remove their harvest but they are reinforcing themselves that they cannot leave. They must leave,” he said.

The deputy Chief Administrative Officer, for Bulambuli, Mr James Ngoyi, described the group as masqueraders.

“There are masqueraders, who have been moving from one plot to another illegally but they are not part of the people the government is resettling in that area,” he said.

He added that the claim that they are chasing them from their land is unfounded, adding that they are occupying land illegally to fail the government programme of resettlement of landslide victims.

The Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabbanja, said last year while in Bududa District that the government is committed to resettling people that have been identified as most at risk to disasters.

 “The NRM government is committed to ensuring that our people are secured from the disasters of landslides in the region,” Ms Nabbanja said.

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