Government in land row over defunct ranches in northern Uganda

Thousands of residents of Pader district and Nwoya district are protesting what they have described as the ‘widespread opening of farms’ by the government on land under disputes ‘with the intention to grab their land.’

At least three sub-counties of Laguti and Angagura and Ajan in Pader district with over 15 villages have been affected leaving thousands of households squatters. Meanwhile in Nwoya, one village with more than 500 homesteads, locals are now confused after their homes and gardens have been taken up by the farms, according to the area LC1, Robert Komakech.

Hannington Mwa, 96, former field staff of Uganda Livestock Industries during the inception of Aswa Ranch is one of the over 1,000 projected affected persons who claim his land has been curved in, in the new extended boundaries.

“We have always demanded NAGRC & DB and Uganda Livestock Industries to come and explain to us why they decided to put mark stones on our land but nobody came. As for me, they have put mark stones on my land and yet the boundary does not reach my land. Why?” the 96-year-old cried.

The locals say they are not against the development government is bringing to the area, however, they are disgusted by the illegal extension of the boundaries into their land.

The affected villages include Burlobo, Bira, Koyo, Ajan, Pilil, I in, Paibworo, Lapono, Lagotoywec, Lubala, Pabit, Pungole, Aringoyon among others.

The land under contention is said to be in Aswa Ranch but the locals argue that it has encroached on the land of the communities.

Pader

The development caught the district leaders and community unaware. Robert Okumu the LC3 Laguti Subcounty in an interview said.

“I got a call from the locals after they saw a fleet of vehicles in the community, I had to rush there. Indeed I found a team led by NAGRC & DB handing over 30,000 acres of land to Uganda Prison Service for farming,” Okumu stated.

Okumu maintained that the land given to Uganda Prison Services does not belong to Aswa Ranch as NAGRC & DB claim.

“But the boundary of Aswa ranch never crosses river Ajan on the eastern side. Now I wonder how come the government begins to give out community land to agencies just like that without following proper procedures” Okumu Robert LC3 Laguti says.

A few years ago Pader District Council earlier passed a resolution to make sure that the boundaries of Aswa be opened from the community before any activities commenced. But Julius Nyeko, the senior land officer for Pader district said the exercise never commenced because the effort to bring on board the team from responsible ministries and agencies was not given attention to.

He says they had planned to open the boundary of Aswa Ranch and the community together with the ministry by comparing documents, involving witnesses and surveyors to end the dispute of boundaries.

“We wanted the two documents that are the leasehold and land title given in 1968 and the map with the coordinates and the documents obtained in 2016 for freehold and the survey for us so that we compare the maps and their coordinates to whether they match and whether complain of the community are genuine, ” Nyeko states.

But, before the demarcation could happen, to iron out the dispute, work had already started and Nyeko maintained that his office and that of the Subcounty land committee were not contacted on any development taking place.

In a telephone interview with Margaret Orik Obonyo, the Regional Prison Commander for Northern Uganda on Sept 16th she confirmed receiving 30,000 acres in Pader district from NAGRC & DB for farming beans, soybeans and maize.

Cultural respond 

Oywelo Picho, the Clan Chief of Ariya said much as people love the government in power, it’s clear the people President Museveni uses to implement government programs are disrespectful of the rights of the common man.

He said much as the government has the privilege to put any development programs in any community, the government must follow the rights approaches that don’t infringe on the rights of its citizens.

Oywelo argues that the NRM government that they are dying to support is the same government that is making life hard for its citizens on their land. Amin grabbed this land forcefully and set up a Libyan ranch but when Museveni came to power, he gave back the land to the community. [in the Constitutional amendment of 1995], he recalled.

“If you [Government] want to work in harmony on this land, then you need to cooperate with the community because you cannot say this is a government program, which we are the bonafide government and again you begin to threaten and intimidate us” Clan chief Ariya warned.

Judith Peace Acan, the Nwoya Woman Member of Parliament who is also in shock at how the programs entered his constituency, warns against discrimination against being shown to the vulnerable affected persons and senior citizens owning land within the project areas.

“They ploughed the western side toward the Nile, but skipped the middle section and right now they are opening more land on the eastern side. Why is it being done selectively? Imagine, they left the land of a Bishop and two higher-ranking UPDF officers in the middle untouched and yet these portions are within the project areas as we see. So, they are targeting to remove the vulnerable poor persons from their land, which I will not accept.” Acan said

NAGRC speaks out

Dr. Peter Beine, Executive Director National Animal Genetic Research Center and Data Bank (NAGRC & DB), says they are implementing Cabinet resolutions to secure food and animal feeds for the country and their work is unstoppable.

“This is season dependent and we cannot have any delay because the productions are for food and animal feeds which depend on the rain. So, we are having a bad time. More land is being opened and planting of seeds has already begun in some parts so that we can catch up with the season since the rain will soon be going.” Dr. Beine stated.

President Museveni in a letter on July 14th, 2022 directed the whole government starting from the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Finance to implement the activities. This follows a letter by Minister of MAAIF, Frank Tumwebaze dated July 13th to President Museveni demanding deliberate intervention to boost food production in the country.

On the August 1st, Cabinet meeting at State House Entebbe chaired by President Museveni, a resolution was approved to boost food and animal feed security in the country.

The intervention is informed by the national outlooks of food security across the country as of July 2022 put Karamoja region at 41 percent as food insecure, Teso at 21.4 percent food insecure, Acholi/Lango/Wetsnile 19.4 percent food insecure, Buganda at 17.7 percent food insecure, Rwenzori 6.3 percent food insecure and Bunyoro/Ankole/Kigezi 4.2 percent.

According to the resolutions, food insecurity in the country is contributed by factors including unpredictable weather, drought, pests and disease outbreaks, the effect of Covid 19, limited supply and availability of fertilizers due to the Russia-Ukraine war and limited access to irrigation facilities.

The commodities that will be promoted with attendant acreages include maize (114,219 acreages), soya beans (59 acreages) beans (22,810 acreages) sorghum (2,72o acreages) totaling up to 224,640, the resolution revealed.

The resolutions also indicated that agencies including Uganda Prison Services will cultivate 50,000 acres, UPDF 10,000 acres, NEC 5,280 acres, Veterans 4,707 acres, and NARO 10,000 acres. Others include NAGRC & DB 30,000 acres, and large-scale farmers 314,000 acres. These government agencies will get grants meanwhile large-scale private farmers will receive interest-free loans.

In Nwoya, Dr. Biene noted that NAGRC & DB is planting beans, maize and soya beans on 5 square miles of the plantation, another 28sq miles in Pader, meanwhile Uganda Prison Services will cultivate 30,000 acres in Aswa Ranch.

Similar activities are also ongoing in Kasore farm in Kamuli district, Kaseke farm in Kayunga district, Maruzi ranch in Apac, and Ishanga ranch in western Uganda according to the Executive Director NAGRC & DB.

However, Dr. Beine noted the program has started facing hiccups from encroachers on government land.

“We have had challenges with a few people who have encroached on government land and we have sensitized them and told them to pave the way for the program to continue,” he said.

Engineer Ssenozi Robert who represented the Chairman of Board NAGRC & DB while speaking to the angry people of Got Apwoyo whose homestead has been swallowed in by the farms assured them that they will not stop the ongoing activities because they are operating under instructions.

“We have a letter that says please proceed with this program. If we are to proceed, we have to work with the community but our request to them is to allow us to continue because this work is season dependent. We are not taking away the land; the land is remaining for the Ariya Community.” Engineer Ssenozi emphasized.

In Pader district, several homesteads and people’s gardens have however been left bare in the farmland after machinery has cleared their surroundings. Several grass-thatched huts were also seen left in the open in the middle of the farmland rendering it vulnerable to wind. Besides that, countless stems of endangered Shea trees in Angagura have been felled during bush clearing and ploughing.

Nonetheless, Dr. Beine maintained that their operation has clear instructions including environmental consciousness and also prohibits them from destroying people’s gardens and houses. He said, they will only open land for farming, and they will not bring down houses and properties of whoever they found on the land but those opting to vacate their home, will do it at will.

Insights on the change of ownership of Aswa

In 1967, the former Acholi district offered Aswa ranch to the Government to be run by Uganda Livestock Industries, a government parastatal and it was leased out for 49 years in 1968 for dairy and beef productions [the ran up to 2016].

The ranch was vibrant until the early 1970s when former president Idi Amin Dada came to power; the ranch started collapsing as a result of looting by the then-government soldiers. The situation was further crippled by a series of political unrest in the country, power changes among others, and the over 20 years of the Lord Resistance Army insurgency in the region.

Lying on the eastern belt of River Aswa, Aswa ranch is one of the state-owned ranches being managed by NAGRC&DB. Others include Nshara, Njeru, Maruzi, NARO Nakyeses, Ruhengyere, and Lusenke.

The government started reviving the defunct Aswa ranch in the 2014/2015 Financial Year with a total of 1,030 herds of cattle comprising Braham, Ankole, Zebu and Boran breeds with the aim of

However, in 2019 the former district chairman of Pader district Godfrey Oringa Largo was pinned by leaders for singlehandedly signing a Memorandum of Understanding to giveaway Aswa ranch to an investor, named Bunthala Anzlkumar Baubulal, the Executive Director of Karvati Agro Ltd. The MOU showed that 105,000 acres of land in Aswa ranch were leased through Pader District Land Board for 49 years to Karvati Agro Ltd.

The shocking part is, the local leaders argue that the old lease of 1968 had expired but some suspected fraudsters purportedly under the disguise of Uganda Livestock Industries changed the ownership, renewed the old lease and converted it to freehold without involving Pader district authorities.

However, early this year sources privy to the information revealed on condition of anonymity that there were two applicants who sought for lease title in Aswa ranch with Uganda Land Commission, which is ARPE Limited (currently called Achwa 1 and 2 ) which is constructing Hydro Power Dam on River Aswa and NAGRC & DB although “there were no clear records, attachments to the signing in connection with the Uganda Livestock Industry.”

The sources also reveal that records with Zonal Land Office indicate that on 19th 01/2016 a lease title land in Plot 7 Block 2 in Aswa Ranch although It is not clear though in whose names and size of the land leased but the same records indicate two valid lease titles on the land in Aswa ranch, for 49 years and 99 years respectively.

In 2017, the government proposed the giveaway of Aswa ranch and Nshara in western Uganda to NRM Secretariats, Ankole Long-horned Cattle Breeders Cooperative Society, Mechanized Agro (U) Limited, Abeki Co.Ltd and Banuti Ranchers for 49 years lease, the move which attracted criticism by politicians.

The Constitution Chapter 227, Land Act, article 28; conversion of leasehold to freehold allows a leasehold can be converted on condition that the followings have complied with (a) that the leasehold is authentic and genuine; that if there were customary tenants on the land at that time of acquisition whose tenancy was disclosed, those tenants were duly compensated, that all development conditions and covenants have been complied with, that any other conditions imposed by the law from time to time have been complied with, and Land Act, 1998(incorporating The Land (Amendment) Act 2004, and 2010 page 31 of 77 (f) that the conversion shall be limited to one hundred hectares and that any area in excess of one hundred hectares shall be converted only if the board has verified it and is satisfied that it should be converted into freehold.

Meanwhile in Pader, Santa Okot MP Pader Aruu South says the conversion of the land into freehold is illegal. She has since embarked on collecting signatures and evidence to table the prolonged boundary dispute between Aswa Ranch and Community before Parliament.

She said what NAGRC and other agencies are doing in her constituency is not procedurally correct and has since given up to two weeks’ ultimatum to MAAIF to respond to the complaints of land grabbing.

Santa vows to take the government to court if they fail to attend to the grievances of the people affected by the projects.