Africa-Press – Uganda. Tension is high among settlers on the 56-Square mile Maruzi ranch in Apac District following the ongoing fresh evictions by the army.
More than 270 households at Corner Mulema Trading Centre and Acamcabu – part of the ranch-have raised concern over their fate as evictions started last week.
“The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries assured us that the government would compensate us and that is why we returned to the ranch to wait for compensation,” a settler who did not want to be named told Daily Monitor.
“We shall only leave this place after getting our compensation,” the settler added. But Mr Emma Ngabirano, the resident district commissioner (RDC), who is also the head of security in Apac, said nobody is allowed on the ranch.
“The army is always there and we don’t expect people on the ranch, especially in the forest reserve,” he said on Sunday.Mr Ngabirabo said although there was a successful eviction in 2017, some people have started sneaking back.
“Yes, they are trying to come back and we are pushing them away. The encroachers are cutting down trees indiscriminately for charcoal burning,” he said. He, however, added that the exact number of those that have entered the land is yet to be established.
“The land is too big. One day, I parked my vehicle and moved on top of the hill, it took me four hours. I came back tired and they said I had covered only a quarter of the land. However, we are sending a message that people should not go and settle in Maruzi ranch,” he said.During the campaign trail on December 3, 2020, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde, the former Independent presidential candidate, pledged to restore ownership of Maruzi ranch to locals of Apac District.
The former Security minister made the promise after visiting the home village of the deceased former president Apollo Milton Obote in Akokoro Sub-county. “The people of Apac should take charge of Maruzi ranch but the NRM government wants to take charge of it. The ranch belongs to the people of Apac and should benefit the community,” Lt Gen Tumukunde said while addressing voters during a stopover in Apac Municipality.
About the ranchMaruzi ranch, which covers two sub-counties of Ibuje and Akokoro, has been at the centre of conflict between the locals and government for the last six years. In 2017, hundreds of residents that illegally settled on the land were evicted from the area following a court order. But the settlers later turned around and started claiming compensation from the government for the suffering they allegedly underwent during the forceful eviction. In 2019, the vast disputed land was, however, given away to a private investor, Hill Side Agricultural Investment Limited for the production of palm oil.
However, in March last year the evicted people reportedly took the advantage of the lockdown to resettle on the land. The settlers started erecting makeshift structures for accommodation as they farmed on the land and also cut trees for charcoal burning.
