The Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Eng. Hilary Onek has warned that government is going to deal with selfish local government officials who have made it a business to fuel the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement land row.
In the statement released on Wednesday, the minister said the purported eviction of people from Kyangwali Refugee Settlement is stage-managed by some selfish people who want the Ministry for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees look bad in the eyes of the public.
He noted that there is a wider conspiracy than what ordinarily the Office of Prime Minister see playing out at the Office of the Residence District Commissioner of Kikuube.
“The people seen clamouring for land are heavily sponsored to come and lodge at the office of the RDC, forge stories of eviction, suffering, hunger. Meanwhile, they are being transported, fed well and protected by forces who think such a strategy can arm-twist the Government to whatever their objectives are. It will not work,” Onek warned.
He further revealed that government also plans to provide the resettled people with resettlement packages in form of agriculture tools, iron: sheets and other building materials and avail a communal land title to the resettled people not to be parcelled for 20 years.
“OPM is to work with the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development to avail the resettlement funds worth Shs4.2 billion to conclude resettlement. However, we will not entertain any more issues concerning land ownership of Kyangwali Land as this has been settled via the Kingdom allocation letter that defines settlement boundaries.”
He added, “Government will isolate and deal with the perennial saboteurs of the resettlement exercise including more so the Office of the RDC and DPC Kikuube for inciting a rebellion against Government. And we will continue to fight the encroachment of Refugee Settlement Land with the assurance that no one in Uganda can be above the law.”
According to Onek, Kyangwali Refugee Settlement was established in 1960 following a land offer by the Bunyoro Kingdom on 20th April 1960. The offer letter clearly defined the boundaries of the Settlement as Lake Albert on one side, River Nguse on one side, Bugoma Forest Reserve on the other and Kabwoya to Kyangwali Road. Unfortunately, land encroachers are claiming to be theirs fall within the above boundaries.
He said the people agitating as landowners had encroached on land close to River Nguse and Lake Albert which are within the boundary of the settlement. Secondly, they came on the land post-1995 return of Rwandan Refugees and following the 1997/99 attacks by ADF which forced the remaining refugees camp at Kasonga base camp leaving the rest of the land vacant and vulnerable to encroachment.
Currently, the main challenge hindering the development of this land has been sabotage from bigger encroachers who continue to make false claims to grab and own the refugee land.
“Endless investigations and inquiries without objective analysis of complaints have also hindered our planned activities. Because every time we want to commence work we are told to stop until investigation x or y is concluded. There is also a lot of dishonesty on the part of some Government Officials and some leaders because they lead encroachers who are happy with the endless Kyangwali problem because they benefit from it as a fundraising strategy. They force people to pay them money allegedly to defend their interest,” the minister revealed.
Fortunately, according to the Minister, several investigations and reports have been produced including by the Late General Julius Oketa, General Stephen Oluka, Col. Damulira , The land Inquiries) Commission, The Presidential Affairs Committee of Parliament, the IGG, the President’s Office Anti-corruption team and many others have found OPM to be on the right side of the law.
Meanwhile, in 2016 President Yoweri Museveni directed the then Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda to find a lasting solution to the Kyangwali Problem which had become protracted since 2012. And it was then decided that land be ceded off and settled thereon the landless encroachers. This was concluded in December 2020 and over 10,000 people in 1786 House Holds have been settled on 8 square miles of Kyangwali land. And the government has a list of beneficiaries.
In April 2019 Cabinet approved Shs6.2 Billion but this project has not taken off because of sabotage from some development partners and contractors with violence. The next planned activities included the construction of three Primary Schools, one secondary school and a vocational institution, the construction of a Police outpost to ensure law and order in the newly resettled area, a Health Centre 3, markets, and an Administrative unit.
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