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Amuru, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Security personnel in Amuru district have intensified the eviction of defiant migrant cattle keepers commonly referred to as Balaalo. The eviction exercise dubbed “Operation Harmony” kicked off in November last year following the expiry of the eviction ultimatum issued by President Museveni.
A total of 240 herds of cattle were impounded over the weekend from defiant cattle keepers occupying government land and private lands without meeting the requirements of fencing. The cattle keepers were expected to fence their lands with four strands of barbed wires and provide water sources for the animals within their cattle farms.
The impounded cattle loaded in 11 trucks were exited from the district on Saturday through the Akuru kwe checkpoint in Lamogi Sub-County, Amuru District. Stephen Odong Latek, the Amuru Resident District Commissioner told Uganda Radio Network in an interview over the weekend that the bulk of the impounded cattle were intercepted from government land in Lakang Sub-County despite earlier warnings of voluntary exit issued to the cattle keepers.
He also revealed that they have so far impounded over 2,000 herds of cattle in Amuru district alone since the eviction exercise started in November last year adding that 1,000 of the animals have already exited the sub-region.
Odong said they will continue implementing the executive order until all those who don’t meet the requirements are evicted out of the district and sub-region.
Joshua Nuwamanya, one of the evicted non-compliant cattle keepers however alleged that he hadn’t been given ample time to transport his cattle out of the districts.
Nuwamanya said the eviction timeline should have been extended since migrant cattle farmers like him also created a “thriving” business environment in the community they occupied.
Olivier Mugisha, a transporter says bad road networks in Amuru district have affected the transportation of evicted cattle out of Amuru district.
The eviction of the cattle keepers followed complaints from local leaders in the Acholi Sub-region who accused the cattle keepers of fraudulently acquiring customarily owned land for grazing their cattle. They also raised complaints of escalating land conflicts that have emerged among clans and households over sales of customary lands, destruction of crops by animals, and destruction of cultural sites among others.
Following these complaints, the government in December last year halted the issuance of titles in the Acholi Sub-region to allow the verification committee and customary institutions to verify the legitimacy and ownership of land by individuals who have claimed its ownership.
The decision was undertaken in a December 8, 2023, letter written by Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
In 2019, retired Justice Galdino Okello Moro and others petitioned the constitutional court challenging the constitutionality of district land boards in the Acholi Sub-region administering degazetted land and former public lands, which were held under customary tenure.
However, in a ruling, the Constitutional Court on 20 February ruled that the practice of leasing de-gazetted land and former public land by the district land boards is unconstitutional. State Minister for Northern Uganda Rehabilitation Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny in an earlier address to journalists in Gulu city in December last year noted that an estimated 80,000 herds of cattle in Northern Uganda belong to non-compliant cattle keepers.
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