Kigezi farmers ask Speaker Among to stop Museveni's wetland directive

Farmers from Kigezi sub-region have petitioned Speaker of Parliament Anita Among protesting President Museveni’s directive on wetland.

The farmers, under their umbrella body, Kigezi Farmers Hamwiga Association, say local leaders are threatening to evict them from reclaimed wetlands.

Last year, President Museveni directed that human activities that involve wetland reclamation end.

But through their lawyers, Muhangi and Partner’s Advocates, the Kigezi farmers have told Among that the sub-region is known to be faced with a challenge of limited land.

Last year in December following presidential directive, over 200 farmers were evicted from wetlands.

The eviction was carried out in the districts like Kabale, Rubanda and Rukiga all within the Kigezi sub-region.

Led by their Chairman Denis Nzirwe, the farmers accuse local leaders of not first studying the consequences on community livelihoods and developing mitigation measures agreed upon with the communities.

“The wetlands we have were reclaimed some time back ago when the government gave us land titles to operate, some of us have had land tittles for over 49 years and even some have been in those lands for over 90 years," Nzirwe said.

He said wetlands have been greatly contributing to local revenue.

Nzirwe claimed that the farmers have legal rights over the wetlands and that any evictions should come after compensation.

"Through this petition, we are trying to notify the Office of the Speaker of Parliament that the eviction was done wrongly," he said.

"Let government look for viable alternative that can substitute all activities that have been carried out from the wetlands."

Julius Arinaitwe, treasurer of the association, emphasised the importance of compensating individuals before evicting them from the wetlands.

He said sustainable use of reclaimed lands by farmers to fight food insecurity in their communities should be encouraged.

Justus Muhangi, from Muhangi and Partners Advocates, noted that over 1,000 people were involved in the petition.

He said during the course of writing the petition, they found out that very many things were not considered during the eviction.

Muhangi said over 32,000 households in Kigezi depend on wetlands and the eviction would have dire impact on their livelihood.

“One thousand people in Kigezi have drafted a petition, they are making a case, they are saying that before government implements its programme for evicting people from wetlands, it should first study the situation," Muhangi said.